It's A Return
by Gigi13
Summary: Sarai's mother is finally returned to her for good. Having Darla around again creates issues for Angel and Cordy. Willow comes for a visit. And when 5 year old Sarai shows up out of no where, things get crazier. And much more. [Part of my Sarai series.]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sophia, Ryan, and of course Sarai are mine. Joss owns everything else.

A/N1: Thanks everyone for sticking around, and enjoying the previous stories.

A/N2: For those who might not have read 'It's An Adoption' Sophia is Wes and Fred's adopted child.

A/N3: Okay, enough of this, here's the beginning of a whole new Sarai 'adventure'.

* * *

Sarai Angel, had never felt so betrayed in her entire life. And that was saying a lot. There she was, desperate, borderline helpless, and scared and no one was helping to make it stop. Something terrible was about to happen to her, and everyone was just going to let it. In fact, the person she trusts most, Angel, was the one who was the top authority figure in allowing this...this...well, there wasn't a word bad enough that Sarai would see fit to use. "I can't believe you're going to make me do this!" an outraged Sarai exclaimed, with a scratchy voice.

"Sarai, let it go," Angel answered.

"You don't care do you? You're really just going to send me in that room and let those people do things to me?"

"Sarai, those 'people' are doctors, and they're going to remove your tonsils. They're not putting you in the electric chair," he then explained as they sat in her Pre-Op waiting unit of the hospital. Everyone else, was also around her bedside.

"Do any of you care? Will you at least miss me after I go?"

"The procedure isn't that long," Wesley replied to her.

"I meant after they put me to sleep and I don't wake up."

"Sarai, you won't die. I've had it done, Dawn's had it done, most of the people in this room have," Ryan explained. Of course, it was useless.

"That's what you want me to believe. Gunn, you're my lawyer, did you get the copies of my will?"

Gunn sighed, "what you mean the one you left on my doorstep, e-mailed, and taped to my car windshield? Yeah, I think I got it."

"Hey, I'm just being efficient."

"Oh, Sarai-ikkins, you know you'll be fine and bossing us all around in no time," Lorne said, via the cell phone Doyle had, since he couldn't be their in person due to his appearance, plus, he was babysitting Sophia for Fred and Wes.

"How can you all be so...so...so...like this? " she over dramatically replied. "I'm going to get you all for this."

"I thought your not going to live through it?" Spike taunted.

"I'll come back and haunt you," she locked eyes with Angel, "especially you!"

"But that's my thing! I knew you always wanted to be like me," Spike teased.

"Weeny," Sarai childishly replied.

"Is that a request?"

"Get out, Spike!" Angel demanded. Sarai and Spike laughed. "That's not fair. It's two against one."

"Well, it will go back to being one on one, once they take me into that room. You do realize that this whole 'tonsil' thing is probably just a cover story, I bet they're going to do experiments on me!"

"Eh, well, you'll be asleep, so it's not like it will hurt," Faith told her.

"Thanks for the concern. You people only want me to have this done because, if I live through it, I won't be able to talk for a few days after." Not one person disagreed with her. "Oh that's it, I am so completely haunting your ass' if I don't survive. And if I do survive, then you'll all really pay."

"Okay, we need to get the patient prepped, so I'm afraid that you're all going to have to leave," a nurse announced, coming into the room. They all said goodbye and started to leave. The nurse stopped Angel, "you can stay until she's taken into surgery."

"Surgery. Sure. That's what they're going to do," the teenager huffed.

Everyone left, and Sarai and Angel were alone. Angel went and sat at the edge of her bed. "Come on, it won't be that bad. This doctor is excellent."

"There is no such thing as an excellent doctor unless they are John Carter, Peter Benton, Doug Ross or the late Mark Greene."

Angel laughed, "those are fiction doctors."

"Which is why they're great. There's no chance I'll ever be one of their victims, unlike this quack you hired."

"You mean patients."

"No, victims."

Angel began to run his fingers through some of her hair, "when this is all over you'll get ice cream, lots and lots of it."

"Not if they kill me first."

"You are not going to die. Nothing will happen. I swear."

"I don't believe you."

"What will it take to convince you?"

"You already know." Angel thought about what she could be talking about. When it finally hit him, he let out a whine. "That's not it. Come on, you what you have to do to show me you're all serious about this."

He took an unnecessary deep breath. "I swear on my hairgel," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what? I need it repeated," she lied.

"I swear on my hairgel everything will me fine!"

"Much better. Now admit one more thing."

"What?"

"That this whole thing is a sham, and my tonsils are fine. You only want me to have this operation cause I will be unable to talk for a day or two."

Angel smirked, "no, that's not the reason, it's just one hell of a bonus. A day of you mute? Yeah, definitely a great bonus gift. I swear on my hairgel."

"Poopie head. "

"Everything really will be fine," Angel then sincerely promised. Sarai responded by holding out her arms, much in the same way a small child would if they wanted a hug or to be picked up. Thus proving once again she has many sides and the ability to go from sarcastic-pain-in-the-ass, to a needy, scared, at times even insecure, child. Angel smiled and hugged her.

"You know you're going to be my slave if I live through this."

"Yeah," Angel sighed, "I already figured that out."

"What? Really? Yay, my smarts are rubbing off on you."

"Joy," he muttered.

"Hello, was is everyone today?" Dr. Williams, Sarai's ENT, asked as he entered her room.

Sarai stared at him. "Howthe helldo you think I am?" she snapped, pointing to herself, her hospital bed, and IV.

"Sarai, be nice," Angel instructed.

"No, no, it's perfectly fine. She has a point," Dr. Williams agreed, as he walked to her bedside, revealing a needle.

"What is that?" she asked nervously.

"It's a sedative, Sarai. This way, by the time you're in the operating room, you'll already be somewhat asleep, even before we give you the anaesthesia."

"You want to drug me up more? Why? What don't you want me to see?"

The doctor looked over at Angel, "did they already give her something?"

"No, that's just how she is," Angel replied before hugging his daughter. "You'll be fine and I'll see you right after. I promise."

The doctor sedated Sarai, and then wheeled her bed into the OR.

* * *

For the hour the surgery took, Angel paced in the waiting room. Sarai's paranoia clearly got to him. He was relieved when the doctor came out. "How is she?" he asked right away.

"The surgery went well," the doctor replied.

"That wasn't what he asked," Ryan said, the paranoia spread to him too, of course Sarai could never find out about it though.

"She'll be fine in time. She's a very strong willed girl. We had to give her extra sedatives and anesthesia to put her out, because she refused to go lightly."

"How much extra?" Angel asked.

"A significant amount. At first we thought it was because of a strong immune system, we see that sometimes. But she was mumbling something about not wanting to 'go under' and she kept mentioning some sort of conspiracy. So I tend to think it was more a mind matter then physical. But she will be fine. She's kinda out right now and will probably remain groggy for quite a while considering how much we had to give her."

"At least she finally put her mind to something," Angel sighed, trying to find a bright side. "Can I see her?"

Sarai laid in her bed, in her little cubical of the recovery room unit. Her head was fuzzier then the time she ate 30 Fun Dip in a row, followed by guzzling down an Iced Coffee. She opened her eyes, and was fairly pleased by what she saw... or what she was pretty saw she saw through the blur. "Hi, how's my darling girl feeling?" Darla questioned, stroking her daughter's hair. The sound of her voice, and touching of the hair confirmed to Sarai that she was in fact seeing who she thought she was. It was comforting. Sarai shrugged lightly.

"What's going on?" Angel asked as he walked in and saw the back of a blonde woman's head sitting on his daughter's bed. The woman turned around and Angel saw it was Darla. He was stunned.

"Hello," she plainly greeted.

"How... what are you doing here?" Angel questioned.

"I'm here seeing our daughter, and I'm staying for good."

Angel blinked a few times, "and... how is this possible? You died."

"Yes, I did, and not for the first time if you remember." Darla got off the bed and walked over to him, "here's the story. After I died, the Powers made me a deal, since my death was really a sacrifice to bring their 'miracle child', into this world. The deal was I had to work for them, being a messenger, helping people get on their path if their lost, or in between life and death. And in return, after I did enough work, I'd get to come back here. And my work has been done."

"Done... you mean you're here," Angel began a lump in his throat. "Forever?"

"About as forever as any vampire can be. I can be killed again by stakes and beheading, if that's what you mean."

Before Angel could say anything else, Cordelia, Doyle, Dawn and Ryan entered, "we couldn't wait any longer and we were the only ones talented enough to get passed security..." Cordelia announced, "and what the hell?" she added when she noticed Darla.

"Cordelia," Darla said with false sincerity.

Everyone looked over at Angel, "Darla's back," he simply explained.

"Got that already. Someone wanna explain the how?" Cordelia's asked.

"Darla?" Doyle cut in, "so your Darla... and supposed to be dead."

Having gotten annoyed by being post-op and ignored, Sarai decided to put the attention on herself, by using all her energy (which wasn't much) to throw the barf bucket kept next to her bed, just in case, at the six people in her room. She didn't have a specific target, but didn't complain when it ended up hitting her father right in the head. "Nice aim," Darla observed.

"Don't encourage her," Angel ordered.

"Don't tell me how to talk to her, she's my daughter too, Angelus."

"It's Angel."

A tissue box was the second item thrown, only it was an even weaker throw that didn't hit anything/one. Sarai then pointed at her throat. "Oh I'm sorry, princess, how are you feeling after the surgery?" Angel asked, sympathetically. Sarai managed to motion for a pen. Angel handed her one, along with a piece of paper that happened to be laying in the room.

'How nice of you to finally remember,' was written, barely legible, on the paper by Sarai.

"I got distracted," Angel defended.

"Yeah, with your mother suddenly being alive," Dawn added.

'Your taking his side? You don't care about my suffering either!' Sarai wrote and held up for her friend. Dawn rolled her eyes. 'Why are you all covered in white spots?' was the next thing written. Everyone looked at one another.

"I think you're seeing things. Maybe you should close your eyes?" Ryan said and suggested.

'Nuh-uh. You are. Just like the floating green elephants around you all.' she replied, the hand writing worsening, and her head was getting worse.

"I'm getting the doctor," Angel declared after reading his daughter's last statement.

The doctor stated Sarai's loopiness was due to the anesthetic, which Angel suspected. Sarai fell back asleep and the doctor speculated it would wear off during her sleep. Surprisingly enough, Sarai was not asleep for long, a few minutes at the most. When she woke up, she found there was a dry-erase board waiting for her on the bed. She picked it up, along with a marker. 'I had a dream... I think. About mother-person being here,' she wrote.

"I am here, you didn't dream it," Darla said, making herself noticed to her daughter.

'Oh. Yayness. I was promised ice cream though I believe, and I'd like it now,' was her written reply.

"And here you were afraid you'd be unable to communicate," Ryan teased.

Sarai ignored his comment and went on to another topic, 'were the elephants real too?'

No one in the room touched that question... they didn't know how to answer. "So, ice cream? I'll see what can be done," Doyle said, changing the subject. "There's this nurse I saw that I think can be of some help."

'Hit on her if you want, just get ice cream, please.' Sarai wrote. Doyle left. At the same time, Gunn and everyone else entered.

"Hey, hey look who finally snuck in," Gunn announced. "Darla?" he then questioned.

"The one and only," she replied.

"How?" Fred asked.

'Hello? I'm the one that was sliced into!' the patient complained.

"You weren't cut open!" everyone corrected at once. The teenager scoffed.

Angel filled his friends in on what Darla had told her. "So... is she evil or not?" Gunn asked when the story was done. They all looked at Darla.

"I have some soul," she explained.

"Some? That makes sense," Spikes rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Spike," Darla replied. "Yes some. After I gave birth, I retained a little of the soul Sarai and I shared."

"You mean Sarai really does have a soul!" Gunn, Sarai's one true BFF, couldn't help but tease her. Sarai smiled and stuck her tongue out at him.

"What do you mean a little? How little?" Angel asked.

"Not enough that I'm going to shun society for a hundred years over my guilt. But enough that I don't want to kill you all," Darla explained. "Well, most of you," she added, shooting a glare at Wesley.

"Darla I..." Wesley began to explain.

"I don't need your explanations, thanks," she cut off.

"Darla, that was a while ago. We've moved passed that now, so please try and do the same. And be nice," Angel said.

Darla shook her head, "well, I wasn't here then, when Wesley here exercised his right to play puppet master with our child's life. But I'm here now, and I intend on making up for missed time," she replied.

A ringing sound was then heard in the room. Faith quickly answered her cell phone before she got in trouble. The conversation was quick. "That was Willow, she's at the airport, I'm going to go pick her up," she announced.

"I'll come," Dawn offered.

The two said goodbye to Sarai and left. As they left, Doyle and a nurse walked in. The nurse had the beloved ice cream. Fred excused herself to call Lorne and Sophia to tell them Sarai was awake and okay.

"Eat this, and if you can keep it down, and aren't hallucinating, in a little while we can release you," the nurse told Sarai. The teenager happily ate the ice cream.

She was the only really happy person in the room. Everyone else was still disturbed and confused by Darla's sudden re-appearance. Angel and Darla stared at each other from opposite ends of Sarai's beside, with tension between them. Sarai ignored the tension, and as she ate her ice cream, planned on how to fix the relationship of her parents to her liking. And also how she was going to pull off lying and saying her head wasn't still foggy, to make her get out of the evil hospital hell faster. She had her work cut out for her.

* * *

A/N: That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed. Up next: Sarai goes home, and drives everyone (mainly Angel) crazy. Willow is around. And Sarai get's more enthusiastic about her mother's return to her, as the drugs wear off and she becomes more herself and it sinks in. 


	2. Sarai's House

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed. Feel free to continue doing so.

* * *

Within a few hours, Sarai was home. The first thing she saw after walking through the door was Lorne, Sophia, Faith, Willow, Dawn, and of course Skittles, standing in front of a hand made 'Welcome Home Sarai' sign. She gave them the thumb up of approval. Sophia went up to Sarai and waved. Sarai smiled and waved back. Sarai wrote 'Hi Sophia', on her board, but the four year old was unable to read it.

"She says hi back," Fred told her daughter for Sarai. Sophia noticed Darla and then turned to her best friend for approval.

'It's okay, she's good,' Sarai wrote, once again for getting the child couldn't really read yet.

Darla had heard of Sophia a few times during her visits to Sarai. She knew Sarai liked her a lot. There for, so did she. "Hi there. I'm Sarai's mother," she said. Sophia nodded.

'WILLOW:)' was the next thing to be seen on the teenagers board.

"Hi sweety," Willow replied, walking to Sarai and hugging her. After, Sarai pointed to her room, making it clear she wanted her bed. Cordelia went to take Sarai's hand and bring her to her room, but Darla intervened.

"I can do it," Darla informed her, before taking Sarai into her room. Sophia and Dawn followed. Ryan tried to, but was stopped.

"Excuse me? And where do you think your going?" Angel asked.

"Are you kidding? Angel, he wants to see if she's okay. And, with three other people in the room, I doubt anything will happen." Fred said. Angel reluctantly allowed him to go.

"If he tries anything, it's your fault," he then mumbled to his friend.

"I don't think Ryan is the one you have to worry about trying something," she teased. A piece of paper crumbled into a ball flew out of Sarai's room and hit Fred on the head. 'I heard that! And... he's hot, could you blame me if I did? P.S. don't let el father know about that last part' is what was written on it.

Meanwhile, Sarai plopped down on her bed and sprawled out, clearly being over dramatic, partly for entertainment value for her friends and partly to drive her father insane. She had great plans of using her operation to drive him mad. After all, he was the one that okayed it, so in her eyes that was as good as him begging her too. "Are you okay?" Darla questioned.

She shook her head. 'Ice cream...more...need it...' she wrote. 'And make the other one make it for me.'

Darla left to give the order of ice cream. "Your gonna get fat eating so much ice cream," Dawn pointed out. "And getting rid of it would either involve surgery, dieting or exercise. Three things you are against."

Sarai thought about that. Her friend did have a good point. But then again, it was ice cream. 'Screw it, ice cream is worth it. OH! Ice pops! Can someone help a sick Sarai out and get some? Only red and maybe orange preferably though. No grape or lemon under any circumstances,' she wrote.

"You know, you probably can talk a little," Ryan told her.

'Wipe-y Board!' was her simple written reply. Ryan laughed. Sophia climbed on the bed and sat at the edge. Sarai wanted to invite her to lay down and keep her company, but with the inability to speak and Sophia not being able to read, it was difficult. So, Sarai wrote for Ryan to do it for her. "Sophia, Sarai said you can lay down if you want," he told the child. She was about to do it, when Fred walked in.

"Sweety, it's time to go," Fred told her. Sarai raised an eyebrow. "She has a special appointment with the speech therapist. I can't be missed," Fred then explained. "We'll be back later."

The two left, and Ryan and Sarai were left alone. 'You can sit,' she wrote. He sat down on the bed. But soon Angel walked in and he dove off. Sarai couldn't help but grin.

"Someone ordered ice cream?" Angel said, handing his daughter a bowl of strawberry ice cream goodness. The teenager inhaled the ice cream, and requested more. Angel sighed.

'More!' she wrote.

"You're just as demanding in writing as you are vocally," her father mused.

'Yes I am. Now, ice cream. Ya know, please and all that crap.'

Angel rolled his eyes and began to exit the room. But first he stopped to look around. He noticed by leaving, Sarai and Ryan would be alone with no one else in the room. "Ryan, help me with the ice cream," he requested. Sarai glared at her father, but Ryan listened and left the room.

Darla entered and pulled a chair up to her daughters bed. "Feeling any better?" she asked.

Sarai shrugged, 'they didn't kill me,' she wrote. 'And there's ice cream.'

"Ice cream is good," Darla smiled, "think there's some way you could request the purchase of some French Vanilla for me?"

'I think it can be arranged... but what's in it for me?' the teenager wrote back.

Darla stroked her daughter's hair, "I'm going to make sure you get all better, and I'll never leave you again," she soothed before thinking and shifting into a lighter, more playful tone, "and I'll try and loosen up your dad on the whole Ryan issue."

Sarai thought about what her mother said, and it finally sunk in. She wasn't leaving her again, ever. Her mother would never disappear at any random time again. And the Ryan thing a little plus too. The teenager smiled, 'deal.' Sarai sent out for the other ice cream. Dawn hadn't actually left the penthouse to get the ice pops yet, so she agreed to pick the ice cream up as well. Darla decided to go with her quickly, this way she could pick up things she'll be needing such as a tooth brush and maybe even get another outfit. But she promised Sarai she'd wait to do a big shopping with her.

With Ryan being called home to watch his sister's for a little while, Fred and Sophia at the therapist, Angel, Wesley, Lorne and Cordelia filling Sarai's other request of massive Jell-o making, Darla and Dawn gone, and Spike, Gunn and Doyleplaying video games, Willow finally had a chance for some one-on-one Sarai time. "How are you?" Willow asked, hopping on Sarai's bed.

'Not entirely terrible. So what's new in Willow world?' Willow shrugged. Sarai could tell there was something up with her friend. 'What's wrong in Willow world?'

"Kennedy and I broke up," she confessed. Sarai tried to look sorry for her. It didn't work. "I know you didn't like her, it's okay."

'But... u did. I don't lyk sad Willow. Can I do n e thing?' the teenager wrote, getting lazy and beginning to use IM Spelling.

"Spell properly. You know that annoys me."

'Okay... Wesley and Dad, is this better?'

"Much. I'll be okay. It's not like I died or anything. And HEY! You didn't either. So much for the conspiracy theory, huh?"

'It doesn't prove there wasn't one. Just that it didn't succeed if there was,' the teen corrected.

Willow laughed. "Well, I see someone's been luckier then me in maintaining a relationship. So, everything's still going well?"

'Fantabulous. And if you want, I think you and my art teacher might make a good match. She's nice. And according to Ryan and all my other male friends at school, she's hot.'

"I'll keep that in mind."

Sarai gave her the thumbs up. 'So, during your visit, do you intend on teaching anyone how to magically float?'

"Sorry. Your father already banned me from teaching you. Something about no need to give you power to destroy things up high." The teenager pouted and pointed out her throat. "But maybe we can fit in a lesson or two when you're better and he isn't around," Willow changed her mind.

'Yippie, yayness! You rule!'

"Thanks!"

"The Jell-O has been put in the fridge and should be ready to eat in four hours," Angel announced, entering the room.

'Stupid hardening time,' Sarai wrote, glaring at Angel, as if it was his fault.

"What?" he questioned.

'Never mind.'

Sarai was obviously getting some odd enjoyment out of using her board to write stuff. This was bothering her father quite a bit, and he wasn't entirely sure why. "Why don't you try and see if you can speak a little?" he suggested.

'You WANT me to talk?' she wrote.

He sighed, "yeah. I want you to talk."

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, using her voice. It wasn't at it's full strength by any means, but it was strong enough to be understood clearly. Angel's jaw dropped, as did Willow's. "Oh yeah, heh, turns out all those special fast healing power whatever I got from you applies to surgery too. I realized I could talk since I went to the bathroom right before you took me home."

"What...huh? Then why..." Angel stuttered.

"I wanted you to say you wanted me to speak. This way I can use it against you whenever you bitch that I talk too much," the teenager smiled as she answered.

"That's... just...mean," he replied. "And I don't 'bitch'"

"Yes you do," she argued. "But don't worry, I still love you anyway," she then added.

"Oh good, I don't know how I could sleep tonight if you didn't clarify that," he snarked.

"Pfft. Yeah right. You know you'd lay awake at night trying to think up ways to get back on my loving side if I didn't."

"Well who wouldn't? Since this is how you treat the ones you love, I don't think anyone would want to be on your bad side," Willow pointed out.

"Your damn right you don't want to be on my bad side. Which is exactly why you are smart," Sarai told her.

"What's going on... do I hear Sarai..." Cordelia began to say entering the room.

"Talking?" she finished for him. "Yuppers."

"He finally asked?" Gunn questioned, walking in.

"You knew about her plan?" Angel asked.

"Of course. She told me before." He slapped Sarai five. "Nice work."

"Thanks," she replied.

"Plan? What plan?" Cordy said.

"My plan," Sarai answered. "My plan of making him say he wants me to talk."

"Oh?"

The next thing everyone heard was the sound of the front door opening. "Ice cream is here!" Dawn announced. Sarai clapped as Dawn and Darla came in the bed room. "Took you two long enough," she huffed.

"You talked!" Dawn exclaimed.

"How observant." Dawn picked up a throw pillow off the floor and hit her friend with it. "Did you all see that attack? She's abusing the sickly!"

"Speaking of sick, since when can you talk?" Darla questioned.

"Since this afternoon. But I wanted to hear daddy say he wants me to talk, since I've known all along he likes it when I talk despite all his sarcasm and denial. And speaking of saying things, you promised you were never going to leave again, and you just took off!" she said with a pout and sad puppy eyes.

Darla felt bad, "I'm sorry...I..."

"Just kidding," Sarai smiled. "I was just having fun with you. Gees, did you really think I'd rather have you here with unbrushed teeth and the same outfit day after day? Sheesh."

Darla was speechless. "Either get used to it, or get destroyed," Angel advised, speaking from experience.

"It's true," Sarai agreed. "Now someone hand me ice cream and a spoon? Mother, you are invited to have your French Vanilla with me."

Darla and Sarai had their ice cream together. And due to Sarai's request, Darla spent the night. Cordelia wasn't thrilled with the idea, Angel made vague comments to it not being the best arrangements, but that really didn't matter because that is what Sarai wanted. The next morning, everyone, including Ryan, gathered at Angel/Sarai's for breakfast as everyone else returned to work at Wolfram and Hart. All the employee's took the day before off, refusing to be in the same building as post-op Sarai, since most of the staff was scared of her to begin with. The possibility of an angry, medicated version terrified them all. As Angel and Sarai's close friends/family ate with them, there was a knock on the door. Angel answered it. It was Patrick, from the Wolfram and Hart library. "Can I help you, Patrick?" Angel asked.

"Sir, I found something when I unlocked the library and went in that I think you should see," he answered as he stepped aside to reveal what it was.

"Oh my god," Angel gasped. Everyone went to the door to see what was going on and was equally shocked. They all stared at a small child, that aside from the blonde hair, was basically the replica of one of their own. Everyone turned to Sarai, and as she looked at her younger self, she knew there was only one thing to say, which happened to be what some expected her to say.

"It's Mini-Me!" she exclaimed.

TBC

* * *

A/N: That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed. Coming up next: More on little Sarai, and everyone's reactions to her, and the other way around. Also, Sophia does something that makes our teenage Sarai very happy and feel special. In the meantime, please review. 


	3. MiniHer

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed. It means a lot. Keep em' coming.

Also, whenever it says 'Sarai' I am talking about regular Sarai. 'Little' or 'Younger' will appear before Sarai when talking about 5 yrd old Sarai.

* * *

No one spoke since Sarai's 'mini-me' comment. They weren't sure what to say, including Patrick. Sarai knew it was up to her to break the silence. "Well...this is yet another strange thing that happens around here," she sighed. Everyone looked at her. "What? It is." 

"Well, I guess I'll leave you all too take it from here. Call if you need me," Patrick said, before leaving.

"You should call to fire him for being a sissy and running out," Sarai told her father. She followed that by getting closer to her younger self, "come in." She stood there. "Or not. But really, come in, there's TV and chocolate in here... you'll like them trust me."

"You won't hold me captive for long," the younger Sarai replied. She attempted to hit her older self, but was stopped right away.

"Don't even," Sarai warned, grabbing her hand. "And you're not captive, cause we don't know what you got here. How did you get here?" The child shrugged. Sarai was not pleased by the response.

"Now you know what it's like talking to you," Angel couldn't help but point out.

"You say that as if I'm supposed to care and it's not my intentional goal," the teenager replied.

"What am I doing here!" the child verison of Sarai demanded angrily.

Maybe it was because Angel was extremely used to the angry teenage, who averages at least 3 angry outbursts per day, not counting rants, but he was finding it impossible to find young Sarai intimidating or scary. In stead he found it cute. Or maybe it was because even angry teenage Sarai at her angriest, on some level remained cute to him. They both were factors. The rest of the group, sans Darla and Sophia, felt the same way as Angel for reason number one. Darla didn't know what to think or feel about what was going on it all. Sophia, not only didn't know what was going on, but also was the only person in the entire building who had never witnessed angry Sarai. "Why don't you tell us how you got here?" Angel questioned, nicely.

"I don't know," she answered, sounding annoyed.

"Well do you re-"

"I don't know!" she insisted, attempting to be fearless, but it showed she was scared. Sarai was disturbed by this. Not out of concern for her younger self or anything, but she didn't want her friend's exposed to her past. The only person who had almost full knowledge of her whole life was Angel, and she intended on keeping it that way.

"Hey, I have an idea, why don't me and mini-me have a chat... alone," Sarai suggested, as she grabbed her former self.

"You can't make me do anything!" the child exclaimed.

"Well, there's conformation it's really her," Lorne muttered.

"Yes, I can," Sarai insisted, "cause I'm not making you do anything, I'm making me doing something cause you're me, but younger. And me being the older one makes me the boss of us...er...me" she added, before dragging her former self into her bedroom. "Alright, look kid..whoa, hold on!" She exclaimed as her saw the little girl hover over her dog, like she was about to kill it.

"There's a demon in here," she replied.

"No! No Demon! Doggie... very good, will apparently remain sleeping through anything doggie, back away from the doggie!"

"No demon?" the child questioned.

"What the hell did I just say! No, not a demon. Not a demon, should I spell it? Do I even know how to know what it spells at your age? I think I do... I do, right?"

"Huh? Who are you? Where am I?"

"You are me, I briefly touched on this already. You're not being held hostage or whatnot. You're not in Quortoth, your on earth, a whole other dimension. And I know you know about Earth. And Angel, our father is here."

"Oh... so he came back for me? That's why I'm here?" little Sarai tried to understand.

"Not exactly," Sarai sighed, not enjoying answering that. "You... I... me... whatever you wanna call us, came back ourselves. As me. But you, came back because, well, I don't know why. But I am here already as you but older, cause you're from the past."

To most, that explanation might seem confusing, but to the five year old Sarai, she understood her older self perfectly. "Oh, okay," she said. "So... the people in there... they're not evil?"

"Not in the way you mean," Sarai mumbled. "I mean...no, they're not evil," she told her louder.

"Are you sure? Because.."

"Yeah, I'm sure. I know what you're thinking, what you've been told to believe, but it's crap... it's not true. No one's evil, or hates you..."

"Or my real father happy I'm gone?"

"Yeah, that was a lie too."

"I knew it," the child said, mostly to herself.

"Wait til' you're eight," Sarai muttered, before changing the subject, not wanting to reminisce anymore. "So, yeah, lets go back to the other room where the breakfast food is, or at least where it should be cause I'll kill Fred if she took advantage of my coming in here, and finished off the strawberry-jelly doughnuts, I mean it, I'll cut her! Oh yeah, also, no need to bring up ya know, what went on in Quortoth."

"Okay... what's a strawberry-jelly doughnut?"

"Yeah, we need to get you one right now," Sarai stated. The two walked back to the others. The doughnut box, with no Jelly's left, caught Sarai's eye right away. "Run, run fast," she warned Fred.

"It wasn't me! It was Dawn," Fred quickly replied. Sarai locked eyes with Dawn.

"I thought we were closer then this?" Sarai gasped.

"Oh please, you'd do the same to me in a second," Dawn replied.

Sarai sighed, "fine, you do have a point there. You're not totally off the hook, but friendship is thicker then pastry's."

"Except eclairs," Dawn corrected.

"No duh," she agreed. "But only the kind with the whip cream and not that other filling," she added. "We need to go get more... I want some... and I promised the mini, I'd introduce her to them.."

"Don't you think time would be better spent researching how your younger self got here then having doughnuts?" Wesley asked.

"I intend on getting a Coolata for myself too. And don't you think by now you should no I don't research... or read anything that's not about the prime time line up or the whole Brad/Angelina/Jen fiasco?"

"Who?" Angel questioned.

"You make me sick, living under your rock," Sarai stated. She suddenly started to laugh. Everyone stared at her. "Sorry... I just visualized you actually living under a rock," she told her father, "it's pretty funny."

"And you want to get more coffee," Angel mused.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," Angel sighed shaking his head.

Sarai shrugged it off and changed the subject. "So, yeah, we should go. Anyone wanna give me the key's to their car?"

"No!" everyone who owned a car replied. She scoffed in annoyance. "You're not even sixteen yet, it's not legal even if we did trust you with a several ton object that can go a hundred miles an hour," Fred pointed out.

"Well, I will be in a few weeks, 6 weeks and 5 days, to be exact. And then you all won't have a choice!"

"Oh yes I will have a choice," Angel told her, slightly shivering at the memory of the one time he did allow her to drive his car, the viper no less, around the parking lot.

"We'll see about that," she challenged.

"I'll drive you," Fred offered, "I have to take Sophia to speech therapy, so I can drop you guys off."

"Sarai, if you're feeling up to going out again, I'll shower while you're out and then you and I can go shopping, since I need more close," Darla stated. "Maybe we should get some things for you... younger you, too," she added.

"That might be a good idea, we don't know how long she's going to be here," Wesley agreed.

Sarai smiled and looked at her father. "Do you need water or something? I know having to support two me's clothing must be freaking you out... all that money being spent and all. Lay down even if you need too."

Angel returned the look, "it's fine with me, I'll just make you get a job, other then watching Sophia, to support your own."

"You're a sicko for even joking about that, unless of course you mean..."

"Don't mention the TV show. It's a waste of your time," he interrupted.

"Let's go," Sarai ordered to Fred, younger Sarai, and Sophia before storming out of the penthouse, not liking the conversations. Three seconds later she stormed back in, looking down at her feet. "Why didn't anyone remind me I am still wearing my purple fuzzy slippers!" she demanded, taking off the slippers in question and putting actual shoes on and storming out again before anyone could actually answer.

Twenty-five minutes later, the two Sarai's returned from there doughnut adventure. "I bought some for you all... because I'm that damn good of a person," Sarai announced.

"Yeah, the Nobel Peace Prize was delivered when you were gone," Angel said.

"What? And no party in honor of me?" she replied, "I'm officially offended."

"Sarai, did you like your doughnut?" Angel asked then asked, nicely.

"Don't I always? Why'd you even a- oh, you meant the small one," Sarai replied. "We're going to need some kind of naming system here."

"It was good," little Sarai said. "But different. Eveythings's different here," she sighed.

"Yeah the people walking around are less murderous and more stupid. I mean how hard is it to understand the concept of extra sugar in the coolata? Yet when you order a strawberry smoothy, it takes five hours to convince them not to add banana! And don't get me started on when you order a damn pizza but the person on the phone hardly knows English so you have to scream the shit out of your order and the address still get's written wrong so the delivery man gets lost and it takes forever to get the food," Sarai ranted.

"Glad you're not getting started on it," Ryan laughed.

"Hey, you know that wasn't me getting started, I curse way more."

"True."

"What are you talking about?" little Sarai asked her older self, not knowing anything at all about pizza delivery, or pizza in general, the same for strawberry smoothies.

"You'll find out soon enough."

"You mean I will be yelling at those people who gave us the... doughnut-things and your drink?"

"All signs point to yes, since we're the same."

"I need to urinate," Little Sarai suddenly announced.

Sarai pointed to the bathroom, 'handle it in there."

"Darla's in the there," Angel pointed out.

Just then, Darla came out of the bathroom, trying to dry her hair with a towel. "Not anymore," she said. Little Sarai went into the bathroom. "Do you have a blow dryer?" Darla asked Sarai.

"Under my bed, somewhere," she replied.

Angel laughed, "good luck finding it under that death trap."

"Hey! I'll have you know I cleaned it out last year," she defended.

After Darla dried her hair, Sarai went in her room to fix herself up a little before going heading to the mall. She was interrupted when Fred and Sophia knocked on her door. "You busy?" Fred asked.

"Yes terribly, go away," Sarai teased. "What's up?"

"Sophia's been working on something really hard in speech lately, that she really wanted to say. And today, she said it and she wants to say it to you," Fred explained.

"Really? Sureness."

It was Sophia's time to speak, so she did, "Sarai," she said.

Sarai's face lit up, "OH! It's me! You said me! YAY!" she exclaimed, happy, proud and flattered at the same time. Unfortunately, she said it a bit too loud, which made Sophia cover her sensitive ears. "Oh!" Sarai whispered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be loud. I'm sorry. Still love me?" Sophia nodded. "Damn straight," Sarai nodded, as her way of saying thanks/good. Fred glared at her. "I mean good," she corrected. "Wanna come to the mall?" Sophia shook her head. "You sure? We can go to Candy World and I'll buy you one of those giant lollipops." Sophia shook her head once again. "Okay then. I'll see you when I get back."

Sarai went back into the living room, took Angel's wallet out of his pocket and transferred his credit card to her wallet. "It's nice that you feel close enough to me to rob me right in front of my eyes," he said.

"Duh! It's **not** theft if it's done right in front of you," she replied. "Just like it's only plagiarism if your teacher figures out you were too lazy to write up a paper so you downloaded one instead." All the adults, Ryan and Dawn stared at her, "not that I'm speaking from experience. Okay... time to shop," Sarai added, heading out the door quickly. Darla followed.

"You have a ton of explaining to do when you get back!" Angel yelled in the hallway as Sarai dove into the elevator, and shut the doors by using her own strength. Everyone else left eventually, leaving Angel alone with 5-year-old Sarai. It was going to be an interesting day.

TBC

* * *

A/N: Okay, hope it was an enjoyable chapter. Feel free to review. Up next: Sarai and Darla shop, Angel spends time with little Sarai, Sarai defends her paper crime, and also takes it upon herself to try and get her parents together. 


	4. One on One

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed. Please continue.

* * *

Sarai and Darla arrived at the mall, stopped at JcPenny's for underwear, socks, and some plain shirts, that Sarai insisted are always good to have around, but mainly it they went there because it was the only store Sarai knew that sold children's clothing, so they bought stuff for little Sarai.. Then it was on to the important stuff; Darla's main clothes. For that, they went to any store that looked good from the window display. They began to browse around one store, collecting things that were suitable. However, the soon clashed on what was considered suitable. "What are you doing?" Sarai asked her mother.

"Looking for my size," Darla replied as she looked through a rack of skirts.

Sarai pulled one off the rack, it was a short red leather one, "I don't think so!" she exclaimed. Darla stared at her. "You're not buying this."

"And why not?" Darla questioned, rather annoyed at being told what to do by her child.

"Because I bought one just like it last week! You can't wear anything I own! That's... it's... wrong. Against all things natural!"

"Too bad," Darla replied as she found her size. She then began to look at some black lacy tops.

"Do you know how much cleavage that will show?" Sarai questioned sternly, before covering her mouth, horrified. "I've turned into dad! I need to be shot."

Darla couldn't help but slightly smile at that as she continued to look around. They were in a up scale boutique-y store, Darla liked it. When they were in Penny's she was not pleased with the 'mediocracy' of it. Sarai however was the opposite. She was very comfortable in stores like that and stores that were for junior sizes, expensive stores like the one they were in made her uncomfortable. Mainly because she was convinced that sales people looked down on her and mock her with their stares, always looking at her like she's going to steal something. "So... ah... you done picking out inappropriate clothing?" Sarai asked. "Are you ready to pay so we can leave?"

Darla turned and looked at her, "soon... what's your hurry?"

"It's just... ah... it's hot in here," she lied.

"No it's not."

"That's cause you have a cool body temperature."

"No, it's cause you're clearly lying."

Sarai sighed, "okay fine. I just wanna get out of here. This place... it's not exactly my scene. It's so..."

"It's classy," Darla interrupted.

"Exactly! I am not comfortable in places that play soothing music, most with no lyrics. I need a place that blasts 50 and Avril, to get you in the fun shopping mood. Can I take you into my world?"

"Weren't we there already?" Darla questioned.

"Kinda, but not really. That was more like a small town. So, can we leave? Can we, can we, can we?" Sarai questioned.

Darla sighed. "Fine, but give me five minutes to look more, and then I'll pay and we'll go."

"I accept these terms," Sarai replied, making sure she had control over the situation. When the five minutes past, Darla went to the register to pay for her items. Sarai handed her Angel's credit card, and got a semi-evil sense of enjoyment as the card was used to purchase a high priced amount of clothing, as did Darla. "How do you think it's going with your father and... you?" Darla questioned as the clothes were being bagged.

Sarai thought for a moment about herself at five, and then about her father. She couldn't help but grin wickedly. This made Darla happy.

* * *

Back at the penthouse, Angel was in his room taking a business call. He didn't want to take the call, he wanted to get to know the little girl he wished he could've raised himself, but his phone wouldn't stop ringing so he eventually realized he had to take it. But it came to an abrupt end when he heard a loud noise from the living room. He dropped the phone right away to see what it was, and dropped to the floor when he saw his favorite axe now imbedded in one of the walls. "You need better weapons," little Sarai told him. "It goes to far when little power is used to throw it."

That bit of advice coming from a child disturbed him. He walked over to the wall and managed to remove the axe from the wall, and then stared at the nice hole it left. A small part of him almost felt bad for the wall, between that and the damage done to it when Sarai tried to make her own fireworks on the 4th of July that summer, it took a real beating within 6 months of each other. "Dammit," he swore when he thought about how it needed to be fixed, at the same time he saw the blade on the axe was destroyed. He liked that axe.

Little Sarai did not like the tone of his voice at all; he was mad. She realized she did something wrong. "I-I didn't mean it," she stuttered. "Don't hate me, I'll be good, don't want me to not be here," she begged, which took Angel by complete surprise.

Angel put the axe down and moved closer to her. "I don't hate you," he said gently, "I know you didn't mean it. I don't hate you."

"Really?" she questioned.

"Yeah. I don't hate you. I'm not mad at you. And your not in any kind of trouble. So, why don't we find something to do so we can forget about this?" he suggested.

"You mean like practice fighting without weapons?" she asked.

Angel shook his head. "No fighting at all." Over the past two years, Angel never thought he'd ever be telling Sarai, younger or teenager, what he was about to say, "why don't you watch Television?"

"What's television?"

And that was a reply he never thought he'd get. "I'll show you." He took her over to the sofa, sat her down, and turned on the TV. She was instantly fascinated by it, which didn't shock him one bit. As he found a suitable program for them to watch, little Sarai began to test out the cushion. It was very soft. She began to bounce on it slight. Curiosity got the best of her and before she and Angel knew it, she was jumping up and down on the sofa, eyes locked on the TV though. "Maybe you shouldn't-" Angel began to say, but it was too late. The sound of a table lamp crashing to the floor after being knocked into, interrupted his sentence.

Little Sarai quit jumping at the sound of the crash, she fell onto the couch. "Is it okay?" She asked. "D-did I kill it?"

"It's not okay, but you didn't kill it. It wasn't alive to begin with, we can get a new one." Angel assured her. "It wasn't your fault."

The child allowed her not so long attention span to get the best of her as she tilted her head to one side and studied her father. "Your hair is pointy... is it some kind of defense mechanism? I've heard about those."

"It's not. It's not even that pointy... did Sarai put you up to saying that?" Angel questioned.

"I am Sarai," she told him, demeaningly.

"Older Sarai," he corrected.

"Oh, her. No. I noticed this all by myself. It was all me," she bragged.

'Smaller body, same huge ego,' Angel mused to himself. He was also very grateful that no one, especially Sarai, was around to hear her say that.

* * *

Back at the mall, Sarai took Darla to a store she liked to shop in. It was filled with teenage girls. Sarai right away grabbed a pair of hot pink silky/stretchy pants off a rack. "You're getting those?" Darla questioned, eyeing the color.

"Why? Do you like the lime green better?" Sarai replied, picking up the green.

"They're both bright."

"Yeah? So? That's what's fun about them... and why you always wear them with a black tank."

"Okay," Darla said before looking around. She didn't want to be in the store, but she didn't want to spoil their first shopping outing together, so she kept quiet. "This would look cute on you," she commenting as she held up a dark purple cotton, semi- short skirt.

"Really?" a rather surprised Sarai questioned. Darla nodded. "Wow, usually when dad shops with me he picks out things like that," she pointed at a pink long sleeved dress that went down to the floor.

"I'm not him."

"I know. But you still shouldn't wear things that short, just for the record. Just so we're clear, how much are you okay with, clothing wise?"

"More then your father," she answered, "but not that much by any means," she pointed to a manikin modeling a halter top the was really just a bra with a tie in the back wearing a black leather skirt that looked like crotch-less leather underwear.

"Okay, glad we got that straight. So... speaking of the daddy, are you going to be living with us from now on?"

"Until I find my own place I will."

"Oh," Sarai sighed, "I see. You know you could stay though, right? I'm sure dad won't mind."

"He would."

"If he wouldn't mind, would you? Would you mind living with him?" Sarai questioned.

Darla looked at her, "What are you... oh. I get it. Darling, your father and I aren't going to start seeing each other."

"Why not?"

"For starters, he's seeing Cordelia."

Sarai scoffed. "So? There's no law keeping them together. I've got nothing against Cordelia personally, but I'd much rather see you with dad then her."

"That's not going to happen, Sarai. Your father and I... we're over, had more second chances then anyone and each time... it never worked out in the end..."

"But that was years ago... when..." Sarai began to interrupt.

"Doesn't matter. We just don't work. In a way, the night we conceived you, when we had sex..."

"MOMMY!" Sarai screamed, covering her ears. Several shoppers turned and stared at her. "Don't ever speak that way again... please? Let's just... call it 'the beginning of me', or 'the night., yes that's better.' It's sorter and nice and vague, but get's the point across," she insisted, still horrified.

"Let me finish and then you can go back to being traumatized," Darla said. "The... The night, was ending of your dad and I. The final ending."

"But... did you want it to be the end?"

Darla went back to browsing. She hoped that would make Sarai drop it. But Sarai took that as a sign to talk to her father when she got home.

When Darla and Sarai returned to the penthouse, Little Sarai was sleeping and Angel was reading the paper. "My room, now," he said, looking at Sarai. She smiled awkwardly and followed him to the bedroom. "Care to elaborate on what you were talking about before you left?"

She shook her head, "not really. But thanks for asking."

"That wasn't a question."

"Really? Because it sounded just like one."

"It was a rhetorical question."

"AH HA!" she exclaimed, "you admit that it IS some kind of a question."

"Yes, yes I do," he sighed.

"Then why'd you say it wasn't? Why'd you lie? Huh? Huh?"

"Why don't you stop stalling?"

Sarai rolled her eyes. "It's not as bad as it sounds. It was once. And... and... I didn't even get caught. I mean, the teacher made a comment about how it didn't have one curse word in it,and wasn'ttyped in a colored font, but she never accused me of not being the writer."

"But you weren't," he pointed out.

"But I wasn't accused of not being the writer. And like I already said, it was once. And I'll have you know it was expensive too, I had to put off buying Spike a birthday present because of it. I wasn't able to buy it until the day of the party Dawn threw him, and I had to borrow some money from Faith. And CRAP!" she slapped herself on the head, "have I paid her back yet? No. Any chance you'll reimburse me seventy dollars?"

"Tell me this is one of your jokes."

"No. No. You know what? The more I think about it, you should give me back the cost of the paper, because technically it was for educational reasons. And as my parent, you are responsible for my education expenses," she argued with a very straight face.

Angel shook his head, "you amaze me sometimes with the stuff you come up with." She replied by giving him the puppy eyes. "This isn't a gift, it's a loan. Pay Faith back, and you will pay me back eventually," he said, taking money out of his dresser.

"Thank you, best andfavoritest daddy that ever daddy'd," she happily replied.

"Hey, have you heard anything about murders last night? I've been getting calls all day about something, signs pointing to a vampire, out last night, causing quite a bit of a body count."

"No, sorry," she shrugged. "Now, on to what I wanted to speak to you about," she added, her tone completely changing. "Do you, or have you ever, loved my mom?"

Angel was caught completely off guard. "What?"

"I didn't stutter."

Angel blinked twice, "I... I'm with Cordelia," he stumbled.

Sarai shook her head, getting real meaning behind it. "Right," she sighed, leaving the room.

After an hour of thinking over the situation; her father with another woman, and her mother alone mostly likely still having feelings for her father, she knew she needed to do something. This wasn't fair to her mother. She didn't deserve this. Sarai knew she had to take action. She formed a plan and acted on it right away. "See you peoples laters," she announced as she headed for the door, carrying a backpack.

"Where are you going?" Angel and Darla asked in unison.

"Spending the night with Dawn. I'll be back tomorrow."

"You feel up to it?" Angel questioned.

Sarai nodded, "modern drugs, ice cream and healing abilities kick ass."

"Alright, have fun."

"Bye," Darla said.

Sarai waved, "bye. Bye mini me."

"Bye," little Sarai replied.

Sarai exited. Darla and Angel were left alone with child Sarai until the next day. It was going to be an interesting few hours.

Meanwhile, Dawn stood outside the Wolfram and Hart building, also with a backpack, waiting for Sarai. "What's going on?" she asked when Sarai came outside. "Why did you call me here and tell me to pack over night stuff?"

Before Sarai could answer, a man in a suit approached them. "Your plane is ready when you are Miss Angel," he said.

Dawn stared at her friend, "what? What?"

"Thanks. But please, just call me Sarai. No need to be all formal, besides 'Miss Angel' just gives me images of my father in drag. And that's not good," Sarai said.

"I'm sorry, but what is this about a plane? There's a plane?" Dawn questioned vigorously.

"Of course there's a plane, there's always a plane. All good plans have a plane."

"Plan? There's a plan too?" Sarai didn't need to say anything to answer that question, Dawn got the answer on her own. "Sorry, I forgot who I was talking too. Of course there's a plan."

"So are you with me on my plan? Are you still my partner in crime?"

"This is metaphor crime right?"

Sarai shrugged, "I don't think there's anything illegal about it. Then again, I'm not Gunn. We should have Gunn for this, but I don't think he'd go for this one."

Dawn took a deep breath. "Let's do it," she said, willingly going into this without any knowledge of what they were actually doing.

Sarai turned back to the man in the suit, "you heard her, let's go." He took them to the plane, and soon enough they were in the air off to carry out Sarai's grand plan.

TBC

* * *

A/N: Alrighty, that's chapter 4. Hope it was good. The murders will be figured out in chapters to come.

Up next: Angel and Darla spend time with little Sarai. And maybe, just maybe, Sarai's plan will be revealed. What is the plan? Wait and read. Until then, _please review. _


	5. A Night Together

A/N: Thanks so much to those who reviewed. I love reading them.

* * *

The penthouse was oddly silent. None of the three people inside spoke. Darla and Angel were staring at their daughter, and avoiding speaking to each other. It was making the child uncomfortable. "Did I do something bad?" she asked.

Both vampires shook their heads. "No, why?" Angel asked.

She shrugged, "I don't know... it's...quiet. No one's doing anything. Is it my fault?" she mumbled.

"No darling. We... we can do something... if you'd like," Darla stuttered in her best attempt to make her feel better.

"Like what?"

"We can play a game," Darla suggested, causing the other two to look at her. She thought about games children play, "how about Hide and Seek?" she suggested, since it was the only game she knew.

"What's that?" little Sarai questioned.

"Well, it's a game that involves hiding. See, you can stand in one place and count as your father and I hide, and when you're done counting, you find us..." Darla explained, which set an alarm off in Angel's head. It sounded too much like a 'game' Sarai once told him about that Holtz made her 'play' when she was younger.

"No!" the child exclaimed, proving Angel right. "I-I hate that game. I don't like being left alone to find peoples," she sniffed. "Don't leave."

Darla was confused. "We won't, don't worry," Angel assured her, "it's not that game. You won't be left." Darla was even more confused by Angel knowing what she was talking about.

"Really?" the child asked.

Angel nodded. "Why don't we play a board game instead? I'll show you how to play. There's no hiding or leaving involved," he said. She agreed and they went to see the selection of games in Sarai's room.

"What was that about?" Darla whispered to Angel on their way to the room.

"I'll explain later."

The three went on to play a game until little Sarai began to rub her tummy. "What's wrong?" Angel asked. She didn't answer, just looked at the floor.

"You can ask for something," Darla told her.

"I- can I have food, please?"

"Sure," both her parents said at once. Angel went to the fridge to see what he had. He removed left over spare ribs, that Sarai and Fred apparently never finished when they order Chinese a few nights before, and heated them up.

"Will she eat that?" Darla asked.

"She will soon," Angel answered as he removed them from the microwave once they were heated, and spread peanut butter over them. Darla was mildly disgusted by it. She was even more disgusted when the child began to happily eat it after the first taste. Angel turned to her and shrugged, "Sarai likes it."

As they watched their daughter eat, the front door swung open and Spike came in. "Got any beer?" he asked as he headed for the fridge.

"Get out," Angel and Darla said at once.

"One sec."

"How'd you get in? I locked that door," Angel questioned.

"Sarai and I exchanged spare keys a while ago. Just incase of an emergency."

Angel knew that was a lie. She gave him a spare key because she knew Angel wouldn't like him entering whenever he liked. "I don't care. Get out! Especially drunk!"

Angel's yelling startled the still eating child. "Now, now, no need to get loud. You're scaring the bit," Spike replied as he found beer.

"Don't tell him what to do!" Darla ordered. "Can't you find another way to waste your pathetic time?"

"I am so happy your back," Spike snarked.

"Hi," little Sarai waved to Spike. Spike waved back.

"Are your mum and dad being good? Cause they can't help it when they're not. You can tell me the truth."

"Spike.." both parents warned.

Spike chuckled, "oh hey now, I'm only joking." He moved to Darla and Angel and put an arm around each of them, "why don't after you put the kid to bed the three of us hang out, like in the old days."

"We never hung out in the old days, we only tolerated you," Angel replied as Darla just flat out said 'no.'

"Fine, have it your way," he said as he left.

With Spike gone, the focus was back on little Sarai, who had a considerable amount of peanut butter on her hands and face. "Great idea giving her that," Darla told Angel.

"I think someone needs a bath," he declared.

Angel proceeded to make a bath. Lavender bubble bath and warm water, it was the Sarai bath of choice, thus for he used it for little Sarai. After all, she liked the same food, surely the bath would be the same. "W-w-w-hat's that?" the child stuttered, pointing to the bath once it was ready. Her parents looked at her.

"What's what?" Darla asked.

"Those," she replied, this time point specifically at the bubbles, "what are they for?"

"They're just bubbles. You bathe in them," Angel explained.

"What will they do to me? Do they hurt? Why are they there? That's not how I get clean," she huffed out nervously.

Angel put his hand in the bathtub to get bubbles on his hand, "they don't hurt, here touch them," he offered her hand out to her. She ran out of the bathroom and attempted to run out of the penthouse. Completely naked. Unfortunately her escape was halted when someone entered the apartment from her exit.

"Bad timing," Ryan sighed out loud.

"Out of my way!" the child demanded.

"Your...your... not wearing clothes," he stuttered, "you should have clothes."

"Yes, yes she should," Angel agreed. Ryan as usual, became slightly afraid. Luckily Angel was too busy to give him a hard time, for once. "Come back in the bathroom for your bath."

"No! You won't take me alive!"

"I got rid of the bubbles," Darla told her, entering the room.

"Bubbles?" Ryan questioned.

"Tried to give her a bath. They scared her," Angel answered.

"Ah, so that's why you were trying to get out of here," Ryan said to the child.

She began to hyperventilate, "they wanna kill me!"

Ryan shook his head, "no they don't. Bubble baths are good, fun, you _love_ them. At least, older you does."

"How do you know that?" Angel questioned. Darla slapped him upside the head for being paranoid, and because Ryan was clearly getting through to the little girl.

"Really?"

"Really."

She turned back to her parents, "I would like to try these bubbles that you speak of," she said.

Darla sighed, and went back to drain the bubble-free water and refill it with bubbles once again. Little Sarai followed her. "Bubble phobic? Didn't see that one coming," Ryan said to Angel.

He nodded, "so naturally we should have."

"Word." Angel stared at him, puzzled. "I agree," Ryan clarified. "So, where's the older one?"

"She's sleeping at Dawn's, she didn't tell you?"

Ryan shook his head. "When you see her tomorrow, tell her I was here?"

"Okay."

Ryan left and Angel went back into the bathroom. Little Sarai was splashing around and enjoying the bubbles very much. He couldn't help but laugh... it was so... Sarai, to him.

Once the bath was over, Angel and Darla helped her into the footie pajama's Sarai purchased for her earlier that day. "I like these," she said, "they make me warm, but not too warm."

"Well, that's just the perfect warm to be," Angel said in a playful voice. "Okay, I think it's time for you to go to bed," he added lifting her up, and putting her on Sarai's bed. Darla put the comforter over her. She squirmed around for a minute as she adjusted to the feeling of the bed.

"I like this too," she declared.

Angel proceeded to go a step further and tucked the covers under the mattress, to ensure she'd be safe and secure. Following that, he lined her body, and the floor with throw pillows. "Angel... I think that's enough," Darla said.

"You don't know that. What if she falls?" he challenged as he finished his pillow set-up. They both leaned over to kiss her goodnight. It made her uncomfortable, she wasn't used to affection. Angel picked up on it right away and backed off, but he didn't like it. That wasn't how it was supposed to be. Certainly not how he pictured it when she was an infant. But it was, and Angel accepted it as is. Darla backed off too, but she didn't take it as deep as Angel did.

They said goodnight and walked out of the room. Darla flopped herself down on the couch, exhausted. Angel sat in his favorite chair and flipped through a book. "How can your eyes focus on words?" she asked, "aren't you tired?"

He shook his head, "nope, I was tired when she stay up for three days straight as a baby. And I was tired after her sugar high of last May. A bubble bath melt down and peanut butter isn't enough to take me out," he replied casually.

"Yeah, well I didn't have that luxury," she replied, sarcastically.

"I wasn't...I didn't mean..." Angel tried to defend himself, but he wasn't sure just want he did.

"Hey, it's fine," she interrupted. "I get it by now. You spent time with her as a baby, raised her for the past two years by yourself. Naturally you're closer to the child in that room sleeping then I am. All I did was carry her around, give birth, give my life. Now I'm just newcomer, intruding on what you've built," she exploded before storming into Angel's bedroom and locking the door. Angel remained in his chair, dumbfounded. What did he say to set her off? Two-hundred-years and he still didn't understand her. Perhaps that's where Sarai inherited it from.

The late the next morning, Angel made little Sarai breakfast, as Darla came out of Angel's bedroom and poured a glass of blood. "Good morning," she said. If she wasn't going to bring up her outburst the night before, then neither was Angel. It was better that way. Luckily, they had a break in the conversations they kept trying to make with their eating child when Sarai came through the door. Dawn was with her.

"Hello peoples," she greeted.

"I'd like just like to say all I did was go along with it," Dawn said right away.

"Go along with what?" Angel asked suspiciously, eyeing his teenager daughter.

Sarai giggled slightly and rolled her eyes, "have I made you so paranoid that you have to automatically assume everything I do when I leave is bad in some way?" she questioned. Angel nodded. "Cool! But... no. See, I actually did something nice. Mother, remember the conversation we had the other day? About relationships? Well, you had a good point. Dad _is _with Cordelia..."

"Sarai," Angel tried to interrupt.

"No! I want to finish!" she insisted. "So yeah, dad has Cordelia. You two aren't together and as much as I may not like that. I guess I can deal. But it's still not fair to you, so I decided to make it fair."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean?" Darla asked. That very second the answer came through the door. "Lindsey?" she gasped staring at the man who just entered. Angel's jaw dropped. There was silence.

TBC

* * *

A/N: The wait is over, Sarai's plan is Lindsey.

Up next: Reactions from Angel and Darla on the Lindsey front. Angel get's mad at Sarai for chartering her own plane and leaving California (as he should) and she defends it in typical Sarai fashion. Maybe a father-to-father chat between Angel and Wesley (if not the next chapter, then the one after that.) And what about those murders? Wait to read and find out. Until then, **please review.**


	6. Tough Love

A/N: I am loving all the reviews. Glad you're all liking this story. Keep em coming.

* * *

The silence continued for a good minute. The silence was making little Sarai very uncomfortable. "Did I do something bad?" she asked nervously.

"No!" Sarai answered right away, "we're perfect. We don't do anything wrong, everything we do is great" she insisted.

Angels turned to the child, "you didn't do anything wrong," he said to her.

"Like I just said, I didn't either," Sarai insisted.

"Don't get nervous, there's a lot of silent pauses around here," Dawn said to little Sarai.

"I think there's been enough of the silence, Sarai, start explaining yourself," Angel ordered.

The teenager shrugged and complied, "well, okay but you know the explanation of me anyway. My birthday's March fifth, I'm 5'2, killer good looks . . . "

"You know what I mean, knock this off," he interrupted.

"Well, you said explain me, so that's what I was doing."

"I meant explain what's going on," he replied angry.

"That's all you had to say," Sarai replied. "Dawn and I went and found Lindsey."

"Leave me out of this!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Okay, I kidnaped Dawn and the two of us went and found Lindsey," Sarai replied. "I figured what with you having Cordelia. Mom needed someone. Was I wrong?"

Angel tried to wrapped his mind around the whole situation. It wasn't easy to do. "I...how... why him? How do you even know him?"

"We met once. Back from when I got sucked into the past. I told you about being sucked into the past. Yup, it happened then," she explained.

"That's what she told me," Lindsey said, finally speaking.

"That's cause it's true," she replied.

"I still don't know how you managed to find me."

"You obviously underestimate the power of Google."

"You've been using more magic!" Angel exclaimed, upset.

Sarai shook her head. He had a computer in his office, she was sure of it. And yet, he knew nothing. It was frustrating. "Yes, yes I did," she replied sarcastically.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to use magic?"

"I don't know. When we reach the magic time that it works, I'll let you know." Sensing his anger she laughed as she clarified, "relax. It wasn't magic, it was the internet. I was messing with you, which you deserved for not knowing what I meant."

"How'd you find him through the internet?"

"I already explained! I hate repeating myself. You know that. But if I must, I went to Google and typed his name. After a half hour of fighting with the internet that despises me, I found what I was looking for."

Lindsey shook his head, "it is way too easy to access personal information these days."

"You, obviously, have used then internet less then my dad if you believe that. Unless of course the internet is nice to you whenever you use it," Sarai countered.

"Okay, okay," Darla finally said, waving a hand in the air. "Enough from you two for right now," she told Sarai and Angel. "Why'd you come?" she asked Lindsey.

"I wanted to see you," he replied.

"Awe, is this all Lifetime Movie sweet? She comes back from the dead, and he flies in from The Netherlands to see her. All due to a cute, brilliant, girl. It's just so touching," Sarai commented, as she jokingly whipped a fake tear from her eye. "Oh yeah, I kept meaning to ask you on the plane ride back, when you were in The Netherlands, did you like, go to Amsterdam to the supposed coffee shop's where you can legally buy and smoke weed?" she then asked Lindsey. He shook his head no. "Oh, just checking."

"How do you know about those?" Angel asked his daughter. "And... The Netherlands? You... you flew to Europe!"

"No, we swam there. Of course we flew. Used one of your sweet privet jets too, so Wolfram and Hart will be paying for it." Lindsey chuckled at that. "Well, I sure as hell wasn't gonna."

"So, Sarai just said I was around and you came? Just like that?" Darla asked.

"First I had to prove I knew you and explain who I was and all that other junk," Sarai answered for Lindsey.

"And you believed her?"

"She's extremely convincing and persuasive," Lindsey answered. Sarai nodded in pride.

"I'm sorry but can we put this reunion on hold," Angel interjected, turning to his daughter, "and lets discuss how you _flew to Europe_. You're not even allowed to leave the penthouse without asking, what the hell made you think you could leave the _continent_?"

"Because I already have your permission to leave the penthouse. You never specifically said to tell you when I am leaving the continent. Just to ask permission before I leave and..."

"Tell me where you're going," Angel finished.

"Which I did."

He shook his head, "no, what you did was lie to me. You said you were spending the night at Dawn's."

"I said no such thing," she argued, "I said I was spending the night _with_ Dawn. And I was with her the entire time, right Dawn?" Dawn nodded, meekly. "Exactly. You may have jumped to the conclusion that I meant I was sleeping at her house, but that's not my fault. How can I be held accountable for what you think?" Angel thought. She had a point, it may have been a technicality she intentionally set up to use a defense when she got back, but it was still a point no less. He hated that.

"Told you she was persuasive," Lindsey muttered.

Angel was not about to let her get away with it whether she had a point or not. This time, she crossed the line. He wanted to hold his ground and let her know that. Let her know she can't always get her way and do whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, she picked up on that and decided to counterstrike before he got the chance to strike. "I love you, daddy," she said as sweetly as she could, attaching herself to his waist and giving him her most 'innocent/cute' face. To secure her even more, she waved her child self over. "Join me," she ordered. Angel had two Sarai's working him. He was overthrown within seconds.

" Just, never, ever, do anything like that again," he said to the teenager. "It's dangerous... I don't want anything to happen to you."

She nodded. "Deal." Both Sarai's backed off.

"You're just going to let her walk all over you like that?" Darla questioned, shocking Sarai.

"E-excuse me? Why shouldn't he? And... I did this for you."

"You also made a fool of your father, _and _of _me_ because I believed you were sleeping at your friend's house," Darla said. "I... I don't think you should leave here again for the rest of the day."

"What?" Both Sarai and Angel questioned at the same time. "You can't do that," Sarai continued. "Can you? Daddy, can she do that?" The look on Darla's face, accompanied by her outburst the night before, made Angel realize he shouldn't go against her, as much as he wanted too. So all he did was shrug.

Darla went up to her daughter and kissed her forehead, "I love you, and you going out of your way like this for me does mean a lot to me. However, the way you went about it was wrong and the punishment still stands. But, again, what you did does mean a lot," she said.

"T-t-that...**SUCKS!**" Sarai yelled extremely loud. After all she did, that was the thanks she got. No, it was not fair at all. And it pissed her off. "You suck!" she added before storming into her room. Darla was hurt and shocked.

"Don't take it personally. I suck at least twice a day," Angel offered as a form of comfort.

"I don't think you suck," little Sarai stated. "Either of you. I don't really know what sucking means, but it sounds bad, which makes me think I don't think you people do. You're nice people. And have those bubble things."

"Who's this?" Lindsey asked, looking at the child.

"I'm Sarai," she answered.

He was confused. "I thought Sarai was..."

"They're both Sarai," Angel, Darla and Dawn said at once.

"But the other one is me now, older," little Sarai added.

"She showed up from the past?" Lindsey guessed. They nodded.

"Hi," the child waved. He waved back. "Should I see if big me is still sad? I hope not. I don't want me to be sad," she added.

"I'm not sad, just a little betrayed," Sarai said, coming out of her room. "I finally do something selfless and this is what I get for it."

"Isn't it cause they love you?" Little Sarai asked inquisitively, "they said they love you. Do you not want to be loved?"

"I want to be loved in the cuddly, you are my little girl way. Not in the you're punished, it's for your own good way." Sarai replied to her former self. "You have much to learn."

"Maybe you have a lot to learn. Maybe your dad hasn't punished you, but I am doing this because this is how I love you. Maybe when you do other selfless acts that don't involve lying to me if you don't want to get in trouble for them," Darla replied to her.

"But, I don't do selfless acts. This was a one time thing and it was for you. You should want to cuddle me, not be mad at you."

Darla hugged Sarai. "Better?" she questioned.

"It's a start," the teenager mumbled. "And... dad was right ya' know. You shouldn't take the sucking personally. You don't really suck, only at that very moment. And kinda now. By tomorrow you won't even be on the sucking scale. Well, not my sucking scale. I mean you're still a vampire so I am sure you rate somewhere on the other kind of sucking scale but I'm not in charge of that one, and I don't know who is."

"Why don't you look that up on the internet," Angel muttered sarcastically.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," she replied, "and yes, I am aware you said that sarcastically cause you are not happy with what I've done."

"Do you even know what you've done? Do you know who the person you've brought back here really is?" Angel questioned.

Sarai nodded. "Old Wolfram and Hart lawyer. You two hate each other. He tried to kill Cordy, you hacked his hand off then you fought about the mother and were obsessed with wanting each other dead. There was a evil hand thing involved at the end. Yada, yada, yada. Am I missing something?"

"Actually that's pretty accurate," Angel had to confess.

"Well, no worries, he promised not to try and kill you. I made sure of it," Sarai told him. "Right Lindsey?" Lindsey nodded. "Exactly. And I even told him his body would be cut up smaller then rice if he tried. Right Lindsey?" He nodded again. "So, all you have to do is not try and kill him and it's all good."

"All I can do is try," Angel muttered.

"I only ask that you try in excess. Besides, you're no longer a human killer, you'd have to hire a hit man." Sarai replied. "And I have a feeling your wallet won't open for that."

Lindsey couldn't help but laugh at that last comment.

"Well, now that thing's have settled down, I'll be leaving," Dawn announced. Everyone said goodbye to her and she left.

The next thing Sarai knew, her cell phone went off. "Hello?...oh, it's you, what the hell do you want? Oh really? Oh, okay sure I'll be right there," is what was heard from her end of the conversation.

"You're not going anywhere," Darla reminded her.

"I have to!" Sarai insisted. "I swear, it's important. Let me go... and I'll do double time," she begged, which shocked both her parents.

"What is so important?" Darla question.

"Honestly? I'm not sure yet. That was Wesley, and all I know is that he needs me over at his place cause he can't get in touch with Fred who apparently went out, and Sophia is having some kind of problem. So can I please go?"

"That actually is important," Angel agreed.

Darla nodded, "for that, fine. You can go. But do not go anywhere else."

"Fine."

"I go with you," Angel stated.

"Okay. Coolness that'll give Mom and Lindsey time to talk alone. Well, mini me will be here so I guess they won't be completely along. Which is good cause now I know none of that...other stuff... will take place in my home."

Sarai said good bye to her mother, Lindsey and little Sarai. Angel said goodbye to Darla, glared at Lindsey and attempted to hug little Sarai goodbye, but she didn't feel comfortable and backed away. It made him a little sad. He sucked it up though and he and Sarai left.

**Meanwhile in downtown L.A.:**

In an abandon building a vampire paced around. "These last few night's were nothing. Once the sun goes down, I'll go back to making this place mine. Yes, I'll become the ruler of this place in no time," the vampire said to another vampire they found on the street the previous night and made their minion.

"I know where you need to start," the minion replied.

* * *

TBC

A/N: That's it for now. Up next: Angel and Wesley have a father-to-father chat, Darla and Lindsey talk about what to do with their relationship as well as a chat between Lindsey and little Sarai. And Dawn and Ryan make a shocking discovery. In the meantime, _please review._


	7. Never Dull

A/N: Thank you so much to those who reviewed. Please do so again after this chapter. :)

* * *

As little Sarai was entertaining herself with the television Sarai kept in the kitchen, Lindsey and Darla used the living to have a much needed chat. "So, things are still far from dull around here," Lindsey said as an ice breaker.

"Yeah," she agreed. "What about you? Any exciting tales from Europe?"

He shrugged, "nothing major. Spent most of my time trying to make sure the man in charge of L.A. Wolfram and Hart couldn't find me. Now I know it was for nothing cause it was as easy as going on the internet...and because it wasn't even on his to-do list."

"That's because he's been too busy keeping track of Sarai," she replied.

Lindsey laughed slightly, "yeah I've discovered how that's a full time job. She's... something else."

"That she is."

"No one's ever stormed through my front door telling me to 'get the on the damn plane now to see mother and make things better or drown in a sewage backup that will occur in the toilet,' before."

"She really said that?" Darla questioned.

"Word for word."

"That... isn't that shocking."

Lindsey nodded, "then she explained the entire story to me though. And I got on the plane without any other threats needed."

"Sounds about right."

"I missed you," Lindsey blurted out. "I missed you ever since you left town after you..."

"Slept with Angel," Darla finished.

"Yeah," he sighed. "After that."

"I didn't do it to hurt you."

"I know."

"But if I could, I wouldn't change it," she told him. "I wouldn't take that night back for anything. Sarai..."

"I know," he interrupted. "How've things been since you've been back?" he asked, changing the subject.

Darla shrugged. "Okay. I mean... it's been hectic, to say the least. But nothing I can't handle."

"Good... that's good that you can handle," he mumbled.

"Yeah," Darla sighed. "So... what now?"

"What do you want to happen now?"

Darla thought for a moment. She wanted what Sarai wanted for her. To not be alone. To be happy. So, she decided to make it happen. She took a breath she didn't need, and began to kiss Lindsey... only to stop after a few seconds and run off the couch.

Lindsey was confused by this until he realized she ran into the kitchen because little Sarai was climbing on the kitchen counter, and was about fall off it. Luckily, Darla got there in time to catch her. Lindsey ran into the kitchen as well. "Is she okay?" he asked.

A relieved Darla nodded before she focused back on the child she was holding. "What were you doing climbing up there?" she questioned.

"I was hungry," she replied, "and before I saw that some of the food is in there," she pointed to the cabinet Sarai kept her cereal and cookies in, "so I tried to get it."

"You should've asked," Darla told her, as she put her down, at little Sarai's request.

The child stared at the floor, "You looked busy. I didn't want to bother you, cause it's not polite... bad girls bother busy adults. I didn't want to be bad. But I guess I was bad anyway. I'm sorry."

"No... no," Darla said as she scrambled for the words to fix the misunderstanding that occurred. "You weren't bad. You weren't bad at all, dear girl, you just didn't know any better."

"I'm stupid?" the child questioned sadly, trying to understand what she was being told.

"NO!" Darla immediately corrected. "Absolutely not. You just didn't know the rule about asking for things you can't reach instead of trying to get it yourself. You weren't told that, so of course you didn't know. It's my fault... and your father's, for not telling you sooner. But you are not at all to blame," she assured her.

"Promise?"

"Yeah. You agree, right Lindsey?"

"Yeah, of course I do," he agreed, as he processed what had just gone on.

"See? Even Lindsey agrees. Now, why don't you go in the livingroom while I make you a snack. How's that sound?" Darla offered.

"Are you sure you're not too busy?" the child questioned.

Darla smiled at her, "of course I'm sure. Now go play in the other room." With that, the child did as she was advised and went into the living room. "Will you go keep an eye on her while I make her something to eat?" Darla then asked Lindsey.

"Sure," he replied. "You cook?" he questioned as an afterthought. During the time she was living with him he never saw her make food.

"I've been around for over four-hundred years. I'm sure I can come up with something," she replied.

Lindsey went to watch little Sarai. She was trying to figure out something to do to pass the time until her snack was ready. She wasn't allowed to climb on things, and the day before she learned not to play with the weapons or jump up and down on the couch. Her options were limited. She decided to talk to Lindsey. "So, you are a friend of big me?" she asked as she sat next to him.

"Yeah, kind of," he answered. "And your mother."

"But not my father?"

Lindsey hesitated before answering. He didn't want to have to explain the whole story to her, but he didn't want to lie either. "No, I am not friendly with him."

She began to panic at that. "But... but... you don't hate him right? You're not really here to take me away too, are you?" she questioned, almost in tears.

T-take you? No, of course not,"he replied seriously, but gently. "I would never do that. To you, or your parents."

She perked up. "Good. That's very good. And nice, you're nice then," she declared.

"Thank you."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he allowed.

"Before I started to try and get something to eat, I saw you and my mother doing something with you're faces close together and your tongues moving all funny together. Why? What is that?"

He was at a loss for words. It was not something he had planned on being asked. Luckily he was saved by Darla arriving with food. It was a big relief. Darla had decided to do what Angel did the day before and make her something the bigger Sarai enjoyed. And if there was one thing Darla, and anyone who knew Sarai at all, knew about her was that Sarai enjoyed just about anything strawberry flavored. So little Sarai was treated to the snack of sugar cookies topped with strawberry sauce, and a cup of strawberry milk, and enjoyed it fully. So much so that she completely forgot about the question she asked Lindsey. "Was everything okay?" Darla asked Lindsey.

"Yeah, fine," he replied.

All of a sudden, Skittles emerged from napping on Angel's bed and entered the living room. She went up to Lindsey and sniffed the new man that had entered her domain. Little Sarai didn't eat one of the cookies, so Lindsey decided to give it to the dog. This put him on her good list and she left him alone. In fact, she left all three of them alone after taking one of Angel's shoes that were lined up neatly by the front door and taking it back in his room to use as a chew toy. Skittles was the greatest dog Lindsey ever saw.

* * *

Over at Fred and Wesley's apartment, Sophia sat huddled in a corner of the kitchen, covering her ears. Sarai was knelt down next to her. "The loud noise is gone," Sarai told her for the third time. "It's okay now. You don't have to cover your ears anymore... you can even get up." Finally, Sophia uncovered her ears. "See, no big noises," Sarai said softly. It was obvious the child was still unnerved. "You wanna play a game?" Sarai suggested in an effort to get her mind off what had happened. Sophia got up and ran to her room, Sarai knew that was her cue to go in there too.

With the girls out of the room, Angel and Wesley turned to what had caused the problem. "I don't get it," Angel stated.

"What's not to get?" Wesley questioned, eyeing a bookcase laying on the living room floor. "I had a whim to move the bookcase and tried to do it myself. It ended up falling to the ground and the crash hurt Sophia's noise sensitive..."

"I get that," Angel interrupted as they lifted the bookcase upright again. "You could have called me, I would've moved it."

"You obviously didn't get the whim part. I hadn't planned on moving it... or having it fall."

Sarai came out of the bedroom, and began to rummage through the cabinets in the kitchen, collecting an assortment of candy's/mints. "What you are doing?" Wesley asked.

"Getting the game set up. We're gonna play Candy Land."

"Isn't that a board game? That doesn't involve real candy."

"Not the way we play," she replied before taking what she found back into the room.

The two men decided to sit down and have as chat as their daughters were playing the Sarai version of Candy Land. Angel filled his friend in on what had taken place earlier that day. "She located Lindsey?" he repeated, shocked.

"Yeah," Angel confirmed. "She wants him and Darla to be together."

"Why?"

"Because I am with Cordelia."

"Okay..."

"And Darla punished her for flying and lying."

Wesley's eyes slightly bugged out for a minute. "Funny... I didn't hear a massacre."

Angel slightly laughed, "no... but she didn't go down without a fight."

"She had a tantrum?"

"Yeah... but it wasn't bad. Not like when I first told her about the tonsil surgery being scheduled." Angel slightly shivered at the memory. It wasn't a good memory.

"I don't think anything's been worse then that," Wesley commented. Angel nodded.

"Wait," Angel remembered, "there was that really bad sugar high," he corrected. At the mention of the sugar high, they went into Sophia's room to check to make sure it didn't happen again with the candy that was brought in the room. They were both relieved everything was fine, and left.

"How are things with Sarai?... Other Sarai, I mean," Wesley asked as he made them tea.

Angel shrugged, "alright. I mean she's... different. Very different then the Sarai we know."

"She doesn't curse?"

"Among other things," Angel laughed. "She's so quite... and scared of things. It's...well it's kind of sweet... in a sad way. If that makes any sense."

"I _think_ I know what you mean," Wesley replied, trying to catch on.

"She's so concerned about not being 'bad' and isn't sure of things, and on the surface... it's kind of cute. Then I think about _why_ that is though and..."

"Not cute anymore," Wesley finished, understanding.

"Yeah."

Angel shook his head. "She's just a child. Well... she's not a child anymore technically. She's a teenager. She has her...quirks...but she's a well adjusted teenager, complete with ability to drive me crazy..."

"No, that's Melissa Joan Hearts job," Sarai interrupted, sneaking up on her father. "But I am damn good at it too."

"What? Who?" Angel questioned.

Sarai shook her head, "never mind," she said as she poured apple juice into a sippie cup, and some iced tea in a regular glass, followed by adding spoonfuls of sugar into the iced tea glass. Both men stared at her. "What?" she questioned.

"You're going to get sick if you keep up with all the sugar," Wesley told her.

"I don't know what you mean. The apple juice is mine, the iced tea is for Sophia." Wesley nearly had a heart attack. "Kidding," she laughed. "Although when you think about it, sippie cups are the way to go. If I used one, maybe things would spill less and I'd hear less never-ending speeches about stains on the carpet."

"Or you could stop dancing on the coffee table," Angel suggested.

"Why would I ever do that?" she replied before leaving with the drinks.

"See, that's the Sarai I know," Angel said. "The Sarai who will stop at nothing to give me a hard time, rant about nothing, and likes to yell frequently, but then turn around and be happy... be my little girl. But little Sarai... she's so nervous all time, afraid I will hate her if she does something wrong... afraid of me period I think in her own way. She doesn't like to touched much. I went to kiss her goodnight last night and she was very uncomfortable, flinching away, the same with when I tried to hug her goodbye before." Angel paused for a moment before speaking again. "For so long I've wanted to know her as a child, to hold her at least once... and now she's here, but she won't let me. And I know it's not her fault, believe me, I do, but still. Do have no idea how hard it is to be around your own daughter and know she doesn't want you to ho-..." Angel stopped his sentence and bit his lower lip. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Don't be," Wesley replied.

"No... I should be, I am. I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have said that. I mean... Sophia..."

"It's okay," Wesley interrupted, sighing and looking down at his tea.

"No it isn't."

"Yes, it is." Wesley took a breath before he continued to speak. "It is, really. I've come to terms with the fact that Sophia will never be like other children. Or that she doesn't... she can't, respond the same way to things like other's can. She can't help it, I know that. I do." Wesley paused for a moment. "But she has made progress. I mean her speech is expanding, and she's taken to Fred, and especially Sarai, very well," he said trying to look on the bright side, but there was an undertone of sadness.

"But not you," Angel said so his friend wouldn't have to.

"It's working for Sophia, that's what matters," he sighed.

Seconds later the bedroom door opened again and the both girls exited the room. "So, what are you guys doing? Discussing some book you've read or something equally as boring?" Sarai asked her father and Wesley. They didn't reply. "Learn to take jokes, seriously."

"How was the game?" Wesley asked Sophia, at the same time Angel asked her who won the game. Sarai stuck her tongue out at the adults.

Sophia was still for a moment before she said something. "No," she said, barely whispering.

"It was a tie," Sarai clarified. "I would've won but I was distracted by a cherry Jollyrancher, you know how it is."

"No, I don't believe I do," Wesley replied.

"I don't think anyone but you does," Angel told her.

"It must be because I am that amazing," she decided.

"And modest."

"Modest is just another word for fake, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Why don't you tell us about this other version of Candyland?" Wesley asked her, curiously.

"I can't," Sarai answered.

"Why not?"

"Because you're an adult," she told him, "and so are you," she pointed at her father. She said it as if it was the most awful thing in the world.

"And yet, we're still able to look at ourselves in the mirror," Wesley countered. "Or at least I can," he corrected before Sarai could.

"Which is a good thing. I'd hate to see the result of him being able to see himself during the morning gelling."

"I'm sitting right here," Angel reminded his daughter.

Sarai rolled her eyes. "I know. But when has that ever stopped me before?"

She had him there.

Angel looked at his watch, "if everything's okay now, we're gonna get going."

"Okay. Thanks for coming by," Wesley replied.

"No probby," Sarai said before turning her attention to Sophia. "Next time we see each other, I want a rematch." Sophia nodded.

Angel and Sarai said goodbye and then left the apartment. As they were walking to the elevator, Sarai fell to the floor. At first Angel wrote it off as her usual klutziness and kept walking. But when he realized she wasn't back on her feel walking next to him, he was concerned. He was even more concerned when he turned to see her still on the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"How nice of you to decide not to leave me for dead," she snarked. He knew she wasn't that bad then. "I got tired suddenly. Maybe... maybe I over did it yesterday. I wasn't as recovered as I thought."

"Well, you did have surgery. I supposed its natural if you're tired," he said as he helped her up.

"Yeah. And I am."

"You're not seeing elephants again are you?" he questioned. She shook her head. "Good."

"But... I was fine before," she whined.

"Maybe it was adrenaline? I know how you can get when you want to do something. Even though you felt okay, you probably should've rested anyway."

"Pooh. I hate it when you're right."

"I know."

Sarai used Angel's arm to support herself as the continued to walk. "This isn't a good feeling. I don't like this. See what happened because of surgery? I told you it was evil."

"Poor baby," he said mostly serious, with a slight hint of mocking, as he patted her head.

"I know," she pouted, as they continued their journey home.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at Wolfram and Hart, Dawn was sitting in the lobby by Harmony's secretary's desk. It was Sunday, but there was still work going on there. And Dawn was watching it going on, for lack of something better to do. It had been relatively quite until she felt someone grab her from behind. "AH!" she shrieked as she elbowed who ever it was in the face. "Oops," she muttered when she saw who it was. "Sorry, Ryan."

"It's okay," he replied as he held his hurt nose, "just remind me to never sneak up on you again."

"Will do, so what's up?"

He shrugged, "looking for Sarai, know where she is?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Besides, now's not the time to see her."

"Really? Why?"

"It's complicated."

Ryan decided to take her word for it. "What are you doing here then?"

"Usually if you hang around long enough something interesting happens," she explained.

"Oh."

"Wanna wait with me?"

"Sureness." He thought about what he just said. "I just used a Sarai-word, didn't I?"

Dawn nodded, "you've officially been Sarai'd."

They sat and waited for something to happen. Nothing did so they went to the near by vending machine to get sodas. It was then when they heard a loud noise. It was a familiar sound it in building; someone was on a rampage in the building. "What's going on?" Dawn asked Harmony, when they returned.

"From what I know, there's some vampire looking to take over this town."

The vampire continued to storm the floor. It got tired of waiting for the sun to go down and went to great lengths to make it to the Wolfram and Hart building, where their minion told them is the place to go to, to fight for control of Los Angeles. "Alright, who the fuck has the balls to try and stop me from taking over this place?" the vampire yelled. The voice was female, angry, and familiar to everyone who heard it. Especially Harmony, Dawn and Ryan.

The teenagers looked at each other and then at Harmony. "That sounds like..." Harmony began to say.

"It can't be," Dawn interrupted.

"Not possible," Ryan stated.

Still Dawn and Ryan had to get a look for themselves. They turned the corner and came face to face with the black leather and pink lace-clad vampire. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"Sarai?" they both questioned in sheer disbelief.

TBC

* * *

A/N: Chapter seven is now completed. Hope you enjoyed it. Now you all know who the vampire is: Sarai (kinda think VampWillow in 'Dopplegangland', but with Sarai.)

**Up next**: Sarai and Angel meet Vampire Sarai. Vampire Sarai shares info on what it's like where she's from and its revealed that maybe Angel and Angelus aren't as opposite as everyone thinks. Little Sarai remembers her question and how its unanswered. And of course, Angel discovers the chewed shoe.

Until next time, _please review._


	8. Three Sarai's and an Angel

A/N: Thank you so much to all who reviewed. Please keep it up.

* * *

Dawn and Ryan stared at the vampire in shock. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. "No," Dawn whispered. "No... it can't be you. You... you can't be..."

"I can't be what?" VampSarai interrupted. "About to take over this place? Well, get over it." She turned her attention to Ryan. "You, might be useful," she declared.

Ryan was confused. This vampire looked exactly like his girlfriend and yet... she didn't seem know the same things. "Do you... know who I am?" he asked, curiously.

She pushed Ryan up against a wall and pressed her body against his. "I don't care you are you. You'll be who ever I want you to be... and I'll be however you want me to be," she said right before kissing him.

As soon as Angel walked in the building he was informed of the vampire disruption, and Sarai gave the okay to check it out before getting her to her bed. They arrived just in time to witness the kiss. "Just what the hell is this?" Sarai questioned right away. "How could you... with this skanky, cheap..." the vampire turned around, backed off Ryan, and Sarai got a look at her face, "me!" she finished. "Wait... huh?"

"What is going on?" Angel asked.

"Hey, you look like me," VampSarai said to Sarai. She began to sniff her human self. "But you're a human, with a soul," she snarled.

"And you were just making out with my boyfriend," Sarai countered. "Did you like it? Did you like being kissed by someone else?" she interrogated Ryan.

"I...I..." he stuttered.

"You what? You did like it? You like other women?"

"It was you," he defended, weakly. "And she...you kissed me!"

"Oh sure, that's what they all say!" she huffed. "How could do? You two-me loving creep!"

As much as Angel disliked the teenage boy, he felt bad for him, which only happened one other time when Sarai yelled at him when he didn't deserve it. "Sweetie, I really don't think it was his fault. Plus, there's a bigger issue at hand," Angel pointed out to his daughter.

"I guess," she mumbled. She turned back to Ryan. "I'll let it go. You're forgiven... for now. But you're not," she told her vampire self, before slapping her across the face. "How dare you just show up here, kiss my boyfriend, and then sniff me! Which by the way is icky."

"I do what ever I want," the vampire replied, before focusing on Angel, and sniffing him. "You... have a soul too," she frowned, "what happened to you here, daddy?"

"Hey! He's my daddy!" Sarai yelled at her, "just like Ryan's my boyfriend. Mine. You hear me? Mine!"

"Obviously," the vampire Sarai replied. "This so isn't my world! You," she pointed to Angel, "just better be from here, and not have come here with me and gotten... changed."

"Changed?" Angel questioned.

"A soul," she specified.

"He's always had that. Well, except for when he was evil for like, a hundred years or more. And when he lost it and went evil, and then had it happen again," Sarai replied.

"Great," the vampire muttered. "So I am in a totally different world. Daddy's not here... and he's probably going to yell at me when I get back. And be all 'you should be more careful'." she complained.

"He does that you where you're from?" Sarai questioned, "don't you just hate that? Like its your fault you keep getting sucked into other places."

"Well it is when it happens because you do spells you shouldn't," Angel pointed out.

"I wasn't doing a spell!" VampSarai defended. "I was minding my own business, looking for dinner, when suddenly, here I am in this world."

"Well, keep your hands and lips off me," Ryan decided to demand, in hopes of making his girlfriend happy.

"Excuse me?" Sarai said, "technically those are my hands and lips! Are you saying there's something wrong with me?"

"Did you take medication this morning?" he asked.

"No, but I think I am getting a fever," she replied.

"That should explain some of it," Ryan decided about his girlfriend's insanity and mood swings being above her average. "And are you okay?"

"Yeah, are you? I thought you were only tired?" Angel said, putting his hand on her forehead. She felt very warm. "We should get you to your bed. Or possibly the hospital."

"No! You'll never take me back there alive! I'll fight anyone who tries," Sarai insisted.

"Then bed." Angel turned to the vampire Sarai. "And you're coming with us."

"Am not," she argued.

"Yes you are."

"Nu-uh! You can't tell me what to do. I'm not from here, so you're not my father. You even have a soul, which I can tell you for a fact my daddy does not, thank you very much."

"Ooooh," Sarai said getting it, "where you're from the part of dad is played by Angelus. Creepy."

"Its not creepy," she defended.

"It is so. He's all evil. And soulless. Like you...oh, so that's why you don't think it's creepy. You're evil too. Duh Sarai!" Sarai shook her head. "God, this fever's throwing me off my game. Time to lay down."

* * *

Ryan helped Sarai up to the penthouse as Angel stood behind vampire Sarai, making sure she didn't try to escape. Dawn left saying she had something to do. As soon as Sarai and Ryan entered the penthouse, Darla and Lindsey rushed to the door, noticing Sarai's ill look right away. "What happened?" Darla asked.

"I don't feel well," Sarai answered simply.

"Lindsey? What's he doing here?" Ryan questioned upon seeing the male lawyer.

"Have we met before?" Lindsey asked.

"He was with me when I met you in the past, I thought I mentioned it," Sarai answered for her boyfriend. "Ryan, I will explain later. Now, it's bedtime, remember?" Ryan escorted her to her room as Angel walked in the door with the vampire.

"Why is Sarai with you if she just went into her room? And dressed like a whore?" Darla asked immediately. "And a _vampire_?" she added, confused.

"She just showed up suddenly," Angel replied.

"I just showed up too," little Sarai reminded everyone, as she came out of the bathroom.

"Hey, it's mini me," Vampire Sarai said, sounding just like her human self.

"She showed up here too like you did," Angel explained.

"I already said that," little Sarai reminded him, at the same time vampire Sarai, and regular Sarai (yelling from her bedroom) said "she already said that."

That's when the realization that three Sarai's were in the same place finally settled in Angel's mind. Suddenly, he felt like laying down in his room too. "Right," Angel mumbled.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm not a whore, I'm just comfortable with myself," vampire Sarai said to Darla.

"And you look like you're also comfortable with men," Darla replied.

"Only ones worthy of me. Other wise I just kill them, no pre-show involved." She sighed. "Angelus... dad, won't allow me to just sire someone already. He says no ones good enough for me to chose as a mate."

"Sounds familiar, but without the killing of course," Sarai yelled from her bedroom. "And HELLO! Sick person in here, people!" Everyone went into her bedroom. "It's about time I got some attention."

"I've been in here," Ryan reminded her, "even after you yelled at me and everything."

"Yeah, but you're standing on the other side of the room not looking at me cause you're afraid the father will think we're gettin' it on and hand you on the balcony with your intestines," Sarai replied as Ryan moved closer to her, now that Angel had entered the room and could see nothing was going on.

"Gettin' what on?" little Sarai questioned, confused.

"Never mind," Angel said right away.

"I wanna know. I don't know anything around here! Even the last question I asked wasn't answered," she complained. Lindsey closed his eyes and silently prayed the question wasn't restated to everyone. He didn't get what he wanted. "Before I asked the Lindsey-man what he and mother were doing, and he never answered."

"What were they doing?" Angel asked curiously.

The child sighed, "I don't know! That's my problem. But I did see them use their tongues to touch each other's tongues, and their faces were close together."

"EW!" Sarai shrieked, covering her ears. "Too much info. You had to watch that?" She looked at her mother, "you made mini-me watch that!"

"I didn't know she could see it," Darla answered. "Why didn't you tell me she asked you that?" she asked Lindsey. He shrugged.

"Where was it? Where did this act take place? And didn't I say no funny business when I leave?" Sarai questioned.

"On the couch," Lindsey confessed.

"My couch? My beautiful couch that I use all the time? That's just peachy," the teenager griped. "When I said I wanted you guys to be together and be happy, I didn't mean on my couch. Get a hotel room. And never, ever let me know any of the details!"

Both Lindsey and Darla liked that suggestion. Angel on the other hand didn't want to hear any of what was being said. "So how are you feeling?" he asked Sarai, changing the subject.

"Meh," she shrugged, as if that was an in-depth explanation of everything.

"I'll take your temperature to see if you really do have a fever," Angel decided. He left the room to go find the thermometer.

"You know, I could use a drink," Sarai said to no one specifically. Ryan was the one who left to get the drink. "I could use something to eat too," she decided right after he left the room. Lindsey took the food duty. "Mommy? Mommy who's mommy and I love..."

"What do I have to do?' Darla interrupted.

"Well, since you asked, somewhere in the living room are my 'Popular' DVDs, would you care to get them for me?"

Darla went to get the DVDs. "Can I do something for you? I wanna help," little Sarai offered.

Sarai thought. "Go find Skittles, you know, the dog, bring her in here." The child left the room. It was Sarai and her vampire-self alone. "So, you're evil," Sarai commented. Somehow in her head it seemed like a good conversation starter.

"Damn right," the vampire proudly replied.

"Interesting," Sarai mumbled. "So... what do when you're not killing people?"

"Torturing them," she replied darkly. "And watching TV," she added on a lighter note.

"TV is good," Sarai agreed, ignoring the torture answer.

"Yeah. I don't know why dad doesn't watch it a lot."

"I know!" Sarai agreed. "It's like he's above most TV or something."

"Even though no one is above TV," VampSarai said.

"Except reality crap," they both added at the same time.

"Maybe it has to do with the hairgel? Like it's affected his mind somehow," Sarai pondered.

"Could be. It would also explain the whole massive paranoia about what time I get home."

"You get that too? All my friends can stay out at least a half hour later then me."

"Oh really? Every night when I leave he's always like 'be back an hour before the sun is up', because fifteen minutes apparently isn't enough time. Like it matters what time I come as long as I do? And then of course if you're late..."

"You get the speech about being late, as if you weren't already aware," Sarai finished.

"And when you're feeding and he yells that you take too long? How annoying is that?"

Sarai looked around the room, a little unsettled. "Yeah, I don't know about that. I don't kill people, and neither does the father that is here, remember?"

"Oh right."

There was silence until Ryan came back with a drink. "Thanks," Sarai said. Then someone knocked on the front door. Darla answered the door. It was Dawn and Willow. They went right into Sarai's room.

"You weren't kidding," Willow said to Dawn when they entered the bedroom.

"Huh?" Sarai questioned.

"Dawn told me about your vampire twin problem. I had the same thing happen to me once," Willow explained.

Sarai laughed. "You, a vampire? You were probably the nicest vampire in the world."

"You'd be shocked then," Willow told her, as little Sarai and Skittles entered the room. The dog jumped right on Sarai's bed and made herself comfortable.

"Hi," little Sarai said, waving to Willow and Dawn. They waved back.

"How are you?" Willow asked her.

"Okay, thank you. And yourself?"

"You're so polite as a kid!" Dawn couldn't help but giggle.

"Don't remind me," Sarai and vampire Sarai insisted. "Where is my food?" Sarai then questioned.

Lindsey poked his head in the room, "I decided to call and order Pizza," he said.

"Oh, that's acceptable," she said giving him a thumb up. "Did you get at least half pepperoni and black olives, though?"

"No."

Sarai shook her head, "rookie mistake." Everyone else however was relieved. It was not a combination they enjoyed.

"SARAI!" everyone suddenly heard Angel scream. He stormed in her room holding the latest shoe to fall victim to Skittles. "What is this?" he questioned, holding it up.

"A shoe," she answered casually.

"A chewed shoe," he corrected eyeing the dog.

"And what makes you think it was Skittles?"

"Because I seriously doubt it was you," he replied.

"Maybe it was you!" she accused. "Maybe you went insane and chewed your shoe, and are now just blaming it on poor, sweet, Skittles. After all, you have a sharper set of teeth then she does."

"I'm going to hope that's the fever talking," he said.

"Or maybe she thought it would took better as a sandal. She's Skittles the fashion dog!"

"You're taking her to obedience school," Angel decided, which angered his daughter.

"It's bad enough you make me to go to highschool! You can't force Skittles to go to some kind of school too!" she protest.

Lindsey thoroughly enjoyed the entire argument. Especially since Angel was losing. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Angel finally surrendered, knowing it wouldn't happen. He took the thermometer out of his pocket and tossed it to Sarai. She stuck it in her mouth and waited for the beep. When it happened she looked at the result.

"I think this thing is broken," she announced. "According to this my temp. is 85.7."

"Yeah, I'd say that's not right," Willow agreed.

"This is so fricken boring," VampSarai told everyone. "Can I go?"

"NO!" everyone insisted.

"I'm not letting you out of here to allow you to kill people!" Angel told her.

"Why not?"

"Because you're going to be killing people!"

"My version of you is so much better," she told him.

"Is not!" Sarai defended.

Angel didn't like the conversation. Sarai being a vampire, an evil, soulless, monster was one of his biggest fears. Having her in front of him like that was bad. Hearing about her evil on top of it was too much. And the Angelus-factor put it over the top. "Maybe I'll call someone to go to the store and get another thermometer," he suggested, getting off the other topic.

"Harmony will probably do it. She seemed bored downstairs," Sarai said.

Angel called Harmony and told her to go to the store. Twenty minutes later she showed up with a thermometer, as Sarai was watching 'Popular'. "Hey ya you bossy," the perky vampire said to Angel, handing him the bag. "Hope you feel better Sarai. Ooo the first appearence of Mary Cherry's magic bag!" she added to her teenage friend regarding the show.

"So do I," Sarai replied.

Angel studied the box the thermometer came in. "Harmony, did you pay attention when you bought this?" he asked.

"Of course. You said a thermometer. So I got one."

Angel nodded and braced himself for what was to come. "Okay. Darla, help Sarai with this? We'll all leave now," he said.

Sarai was confused. "I can take my own temp. And no one needs to leave. Why'd you say that?"

"You can't use this one yourself," he told her.

"Why not?"

He took a deep breath and shot a glance at Harmony. "She got a rectal one," he said.

Sarai lunged at Harmony. "How could you this to me!" she yelled.

"What does a 'rectal one' mean?" little Sarai asked.

TBC

* * *

A/N: Here endith another chapter. Hope you all enjoyed.

Up next: Cordelia is filled in on all that's happened and is less then pleased about finding out so late, Sarai feels a little better and vows revenge on Harmony, Wesley develops a theory, and vampire Sarai makes an escape.

_Please review._


	9. Fever

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. Please keep them coming.

* * *

Cordelia entered the pent house a little after eight to find a Sarai dressed slutty, a child Sarai sitting uncomfortably on the couch. And a group of adults talking at a table away from the two.

"What'd I miss?" She asked confused.

"Me being violated," Sarai answered, coming out of her bedroom. Darla was behind her holding the thermometer. "You will pay for what just happened to me," Sarai told Harmony, shooting a threatening glare at her.

"What happened?" Cordelia questioned.

"I was violated!" Sarai repeated before she sat in a chair and pouted. Skittles went and put her head on her owners lap in an attempt to make her feel better.

"Sure, you're nice too her," Angel muttered. "Darla, what's the results."

"One-o-one-point-eight," Darla replied, before washing her hands in the near-by sink.

"I should call the doctor."

"You should also explain to me what's going on!" Cordy demanded.

"I have a fever," Sarai told her.

"And the third slutty you, and Lindsey? How do they have anything to do with this?"

"They didn't cause my fever, it's the shotty job done by those damn doctors I was forced to see."

Cordelia turned to Willow in hopes that she could clear things up, since Sarai was too busy cursing the medical profession and Angel was on the phone. "What's going on with the new arrivals?"

"No idea about the vampire, she just showed up," Willow answered.

"And Sarai and I flew to Europe to bring Lindsey here, cause Sarai decided she wants him and her mother together," Dawn finished.

"Why?"

"Because she deserves to have a guy that loves her," Sarai answered. "And I deserve a bubble bath and a in-my-bedroom massage. I wonder if that's possible?" she questioned out loud. "I mean like a place where you could place an appointment with a masseuse, and they'll come to your home and do it. Like pizza delivery, but with massage."

Angel hung up the phone. "You need Tylenol, not a massage," he corrected.

"Says who?"

"The doctor."

She scoffed, "that's his great medical advise? Over the counter drugs? I could've guessed that! Apparently anyone can be a doctor."

"Yeah, Sarai," Angel said, "treating a fever is all it takes to be a doctor," he finished sarcastically.

"He doesn't want to see her?" Darla asked.

"If the fever doesn't break by tomorrow, I'll bring her in."

Sarai nodded. "Sounds about right. Because seeing a patient on the weekends is taboo. You can't get sick on the weekends. Whatever you have better be able to be cured over a call on the emergency line, otherwise you're screwed til' Monday, unless you go and wait eight hours in the ER. Where no doctor looks like John Carter, I might add," she complained.

"You really have a complaint for everything, don't you?" Ryan questioned.

"Yup. I'm an equal opportunity complainer."

"That's considerate, in a twisted way," Lindsey said.

Sarai smiled. "Thanks!"

Darla looked over at Angel, "why did you say that?" she asked.

Having been distracted by Sarai's latest rant, he had forgotten what he could've said that bothered her. "I don't know, what did I say?"

"That you'll take her to the doctor tomorrow if she doesn't feel better. What makes you think I won't want to take her? I could. You don't just get to decide everything and do it yourself," she told him.

"Well, I didn't think you..."

"That I'd what? Care about her well being? Who are you to just make these assumptions?"

"What? I... I didn't... there was no assuming. I mean I guess there was, but not in a bad way," he defended, nervously.

"So that's where she get's it from," Ryan whispered to Dawn, as he watched Darla put Angel in a position he'd been in with Sarai many times.

"Excuse me Ryan?" Sarai said, over hearing, "what did you say?"

"I love you?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Cordelia cleared her voice a bit. "Angel, can I talk to you, alone?"

"Sure," he replied. They went into his bedroom.

"How is it all this stuff has gone on, and you haven't let me know any of it?"

"I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional, I just haven't had the time."

"Well, maybe you should've tried to make time, even one minute, to think of me and let me know what's going on."

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"You should be. It won't kill you to keep me informed on what's going on in your life, you kn-"

"DADDY," Sarai screamed as if someone was murdering her, cutting off Cordelia's sentence. Angel and Cordelia ran to see what was going on. Sarai was in her room, back in her bed.

"Where are my piggies?" she asked her father, in a very child-like way. "I can't find them!"

"Your what?" Lindsey, Willow, Cordelia and Darla questioned.

"I washed them," Angel told her, knowing exactly what she meant. He left the room and came back a few seconds later holding a pair of slippers; pig slippers. A pig face in the front, and a little tail in the back.

"Those are adorable!" Willow exclaimed.

"I know," Sarai agreed, "and comfortable, and my favorite things to wear when I don't feel well. Thanks for making them clean and smelling like fabric softener...it's a good smell."

"It's what I'm hear for," Angel replied as he put them on her feat for her. "Would you like soup?" he offered.

"No thanks, I got a pizza on it's way."

"Pizza? Is that really a good choice when you're sick?" Angel rhetorically questioned.

"But hot soup when I have a _fever_ is a great idea?" she replied. There was a knock at the door before Angel could answer. Willow went to get the door and returned with Wesley. "You're not pizza."

"That's certainly the strangest greeting I've ever received," Wesley stated, "and also the nicest from you."

"It's the fever talking, in that case. And where's Sophia?"

"Fred came home," Wesley replied. "Why is there yet another you in the living room?" Sarai explained the story. "Oh," he said when she was done.

"Pretty much," Dawn agreed.

"Why are you here?" Sarai asked.

"I think I might know why the...other you...you's, are here," he said. "The magic's used to send Darla back here are very powerful, so powerful that some realities and times were probably torn into..."

"Yeah, of course," Sarai cut off. Everyone stared at her. "What? What's the point of me letting him explain something we already know."

"We didn't know that," Angel pointed out.

"Well, I did," she replied, "come on people, it's extremely obvious."

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?" Wesley questioned.

"Nobody asked me," she replied casually. "And it serves you all right for putting me through surgery hell!" she added, "Especially you, the leader of the hell," she told her father. "So, how do we get rid of them?"

"I don't know that part yet," Wesley told her.

Sarai took a deep breath. "Well, that's just peachy."

"I'm still working on it."

"No, you're here telling me shit I already know," she corrected.

"I didn't know you knew!"

"That's cause you didn't ask! If you would've asked, I would've told you," she said. "And like I said before too, I thought it was all assumed by everyone considering how freakin' obvious it is. Last time I give you peoples the benefit of the doubt."

"Are you done insulting us?" Angel asked.

She thought for a moment. "Sureness. For now. Cause I'ma nap. So get out, all of you. And if you wake me up, I'll be unpleasant!" she threatened.

"As opposed to when?" Angel teased. Sarai kicked his shoulder lightly, but hard enough for an 'oink' sound to be heard.

Willow was fascinated. "They oink on contact too?" she questioned, regarding the slippers.

"That's the best part!" Sarai exclaimed before once again telling everyone to leave her room.

As they left the room they heard a door slam. And then they saw only one Sarai in the living room. "What just happened?" Angel questioned as he heard Sarai yell something from her room about how that was not a good sound to be made when she's trying to nap.

"Big me, the other big me, left," Little Sarai explained.

"Left? Left?" Angel repeated.

She nodded. "Yes. She said um... this... sucked, and she was outtie. And then left. I don't really know what that means though. She also said she was hungry and horny, but never got anything from the refrigerator for her hunger. I guess she forgot," she explained further. "And what's horny?" she questioned. Angel ran out in the hall in hopes of catching her; but she was long gone. Wesley put an alert out throughout the building and everyone began planning out to find her. "Nobody ever answers my questions," the child sighed as she watched all the older people go about their business.

TBC

* * *

A/N: Well, that's all for now. Up next: Everyone looks for VampireSarai, which causes a weird chain of eventsfor Saraithat makes her declare her hatred for... the entire universe.

Until then, _please review._


	10. Everyone Hates Sarai

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. Please continue with them. :)

* * *

Angel had called everyone and told them about the VampireSarai situation, they were put on the lookout for her on the streets, since it was way to cloudy for the sun to burn her up if she was to be outside. "You know, maybe this isn't so bad?" Dawn finally considered, "I mean, the vampire did seem a lot like regular Sarai, so maybe she's not totally evil. Maybe she won't do too much damage." 

Wesley shook his head, "I doubt it. The past night or so, there's been a rash of brutal vampire attacks, and I am guessing she was behind it. It makes a lot of sense, with her being the child of Angelus and Darla, in every sense of the word."

Talk about what to do next/where to search ensued, which eventually awoke the sleeping teenager in the other room. "What's going on? And what did I say about waking me?" Sarai questioned, coming out of her room.

"There's been a problem," Angel explained, "vampire you has escaped."

"What? Why didn't anyone wake me?" the teenager yelled.

Angel threw his hands in the air, "that's it, I give up. I don't care. As of now, I officially stop trying to understand anything about you," he declared out of frustration.

Little Sarai frowned, "you don't love big me?" she questioned, before turning to her older self, "and you don't like him either, do you? Why? I thought I am a good girl when I grow up," she said, deeply saddened.

Angel and Sarai glanced over at each other. "What are you talking about?" Sarai asked.

"Well, you're always saying things to make him mad, and then me gets mad and says mean things to you like he doesn't care about you anymore."

"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," Angel clarified, "I just meant..."

"He just means we like to bother each other," Sarai interrupted. "I annoy him, he annoys me back, it's all good though. No harm done on either end. There's no not caring, or hating, or any of that stuff going on. We're mad cool with each other, really."

"Yeah," Angel agreed, "we're mad cool with each other," he decided to repeat in an attempt to make the child feel better, despite that she had no idea what that meant.

"NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN!" Sarai screamed as loud as she possibly could, mortified, "now that's just wrong. And sick. It's sick and wrong. Next thing I know you'll be saying 'word'."

"That means to agree, right?" Angel inquired.

"How do you know that! You're not supposed too."

"Ryan explained it to me the other night," Angel answered.

Sarai stared at her boyfriend. "You taught him that? How could you? How would you like if I just went over to your house and taught your father these kinds of things?" she threatened.

"Please don't," the boy begged.

"I wouldn't. I wouldn't do that to you." She turned to her father. "Just never say it again, especially if any of my friends from school are around like with the whole 'that's hot' incident three weeks ago."

"The what incident?" Lindsey asked.

"Never mind," Sarai and Angel said in unison.

"Um, Darkwing, Gosalyn, if you two are done, can we get back to the whole 'search for the vampire on the lose' thing?" Willow decided to say in hopes of getting back on track. She of all people knew how important it was to find your vampire self who's running free in the world.

"Who?" Angel questioned.

"Darkwing Duck, an early 90's cartoon. Darkwing was a crime fighting duck, Gosalyn was his daughter that usually listened to herself before anyone else, they argued quite a bit," Willow explained.

"And Darkwing had a huge ego," Cordy felt a need to point out, as she shot a glare at Angel, to let him know she was still slightly miffed.

"Perfect," Sarai perkily declared, "nice observation, Wills." She took a deep breath. "Well, now I guess I'm off to go vamp finding."

"What? No. You're sick," Angel pointed out.

"Yes, true, but I am also me. And we're looking for me. Ergo I have a better chance of finding me than anyone else," she explained. "Did I just day ergo? Weird. I gotta stop actually doing the reading in English." Angel and Darla both starred at her. "Or I'll continue and be a good student who learns new words," she corrected. "I should get going."

Sarai searched the streets looking for her vampire self. She had no luck. She decided break away from the high profile areas and hit the residential blocks. No sign of her there either. As she walked down on street, standing in a narrow street, but close to the curb, she heard a noise, she turned around and saw a car coming the other direction, way to close to the left, very close to where she was. Luckily the car was going slow enough for her to get out of the way, however in that process she tripped over the curb and landed in a pile of garbage put out by the owner of the house she was in front of. Sarai was covered in garbage and pissed about it. "Crap!" she yelled, as it started to rain. There was laughing behind her. Sarai turned around to see a girl standing in the doorway of the home she was in front of. The girl was Brianna Williams; Sarai's arch-nemesis.

"Love the look, Sarai!" Brianna yelled out to her, still laughing.

Sarai took a deep breath to prevent herself from throttling the girl, and then decided to go home.

Back at the penthouse, Lindsey, and Dawn were there watching little Sarai and everyone else was out searching for VampireSarai. "Another slice?" Lindsey offered as he and Dawn ate the pizza that finally arrived. She accepted.

Darla and Angel walked in, "we just covered two miles, and nothing," Angel announced.

"Have either of you heard from Sarai?" Darla asked. Dawn shook her head. They turned to Lindsey who was jaw-dropped. "What?" Darla questioned. He pointed back to the door where garbage covered, and wet, Sarai stood. When everyone else saw, their faces matched his.

"What happened?" Dawn asked.

Sarai laughed bitterly. "The universe needs to die in its own vomit, that's what!" she yelled. "There I was, minding my own business when all of a sudden I see this car, not driving on the wrong side of the street coming towards me because they were ninety and should've had their licence taken about twenty years ago or something, they could barely see over the wheel too, I might add. So I dive out of the way so I wouldn't be old-people-kill and I tripped onto the sidewalk. Of course, OF COURSE it's too much trouble for people to put their damn garbage in a can, so there was trash bags, open trash bags! and junk where I fell! But it doesn't end there. Oh now. Nearly being killed and falling into the trash just wasn't enough. Nope, because I am of course the universes bitch, it didn't end there. Guess what happened! GUESS!" she yelled, but resumed before anyone could speak, "there was a witness to my humiliation. Not just any witness either, because that would've been to easy, no, there she was, Brianna Williams, the evil slut queen..."

"Also known as Ryan's girlfriend before Sarai," Dawn felt the need to point out to the adults.

"That has nothing to do with it!" Sarai insisted. "She's still an evil slut queen who always makes fun of me/baby jokes, for being two years younger than the other seniors."

"And she's Ryan's ex," Dawn re-enforced, knowing that was what the feud was rooted in.

"She was there! She saw all the garbage-filled action!" The teenager went on to exclaim. "Seriously the entire universe should die... just die!"

Angel pulled her close to him, "there, there. Calm down, princess. I know..."

"No, you don't know," Sarai interrupted. "You don't know what it's like. What it's like to constantly being screwed over and put in awkward situations on nearly a daily basis. Even when you're trying to do something good. No. The person who might have any idea how I feel is Larry David."

"Who?" Angel asked.

"Larry David. The only person who the world seems to hate as much as me."

"What? From the TV show?" Lindsey chuckled.

"Yup," she answered. "You watch it?"

"I've seen it a few times here and there. It's okay."

"Okay? It's fantabulous. Like almost, Seinfeld fantabulous, which isn't surprising of course."

"Friends is better than Seinfeld," Dawn muttered.

"Is not. It's very good, but not better."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Okay, what are you all talking about?" Darla asked.

"Something about TV," Angel guessed.

"I know that," she replied.

"Never mind," Sarai shook her head.

"What's this girls address?" Darla then asked her daughter.

"Huh?"

"That girl you were saying is mean too you. What's her address? I'll make sure she never, ever does it again."

Sarai smiled, "really?" Darla nodded. "Thanks. That's so sweet. But it's okay, I can handle her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. But I totally love the offer."

"If you change your mind the offer will still be available."

"Thank you, mommy."

Angel's cell phone went off. He answered it. Said 'okay' and 'thanks' a few times and then hung up. "That was Faith and Gunn," he announced, "and the vampire you is at, um... that place you're always at Sarai. Friendly Burger?"

"Frenzy Burger," Sarai corrected.

"Yeah. There."

"You don't have to come," Angel told her, "in fact, I don't think you should. You're looking very pale."

"And I smell like trash," Sarai added. "I am going to shower. Have fun."

Darla, Angel, and this time Lindsey left for the capture of VampireSarai.

TBC

* * *

A/N: Up next: VampireSarai is captured. And new information is learned about both VampireSarai and Little Sarai. Oh yeah and the show with Lary David thatSarai was referring to was 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' for those who may not know. 

_Please review._


	11. Good, Evil, and Sarai

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming!

* * *

Sarai had never used so much soap in her life. She was known for using a lot in the past, but never in the quantity she used for washing the scent and feeling of trash off her. She had finished off the bar already in the shower, and then used half a bottle of chocolate scented shower gel to be on the safe side. When she was finished, dried off and dressed, she sent Dawn to go and check on the capture situation and then went to bed. "Smaller-version, get in here," she ordered. Little Sarai did as she was told. "So, before, you do understand that The Daddy and I were just playing around with each other, right?"

The child shrugged. "I-I think. But I don't get why you do it. It seems mean."

Sarai suppressed laughing. "No it's not. It's fun. Really. And neither of us mind. You should try it when he gets back."

"How?"

"I don't know. But try and go for the hair, hair jokes never fail."

"Do you mean how it's all pointy?"

This time Sarai laughed out right. "You'll do fine."

"I am hungry," Little Sarai stated.

Sarai moaned as she dragged her body out of bed, "yeah, yeah, food. I'll warm up some pizza. And I swear as you as my witness, I am going to the Bahamas when this is done."The two made their way into the kitchen and Sarai stared at the pizza. It was so... plain. She was definitely going to have to educate Lindsey on the proper way to get pizza's, since she intended on him sticking around. But it was okay. Plain cheese would serve the purpose. She heated two slices up in the toast-oven, and when they were ready, gave one of them to Little Sarai. "Here you go, hope you enjoy losing your pizza virginity!" she cheered.

"Virginity?" the child questioned as she bit into the pizza. "It's delightful!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, first of all, delightful? You're five, not fifty. Secondly, virginity is well," Sarai grinned wickedly, "is something I am sure daddy will be glad to explain to you when he gets back. In fact, I'll make sure of it."

"Will he explain what 'horny' means too?"

"Sureness, of course!"

"Can I ask you something?" Little Sarai asked.

"Yes."

"When do we get to leave and come here? And how?"

Sarai looked away and hesitated, "not... not for a while from where you're at in our point in time. It's a complicated story. Still not really sure I understand it all," she mumbled.

"Oh." Little Sarai thought for a moment. "Will I get to stay here with you, and father and mother from now on?"

" Ax the 'father' and 'mother' stuff. It's distant, and stuffy. Only use it when being over dramatic or kidding. Go with dad/daddy or mom/mommy. Secondly, I have no idea. I mean, I can't do all the work around here," she answered as she left the table, her plate still there.

"Aren't you going to clean up?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

Sarai rolled her eyes. She nearly forgot what a rule-following, dork she used to be. She mentally cursed the man who made her that way. "Yeah, it might be. But this is one of those right things, that are canceled out by the fact that I've discovered the lazy-bitch side of life and enjoy it so much better."

"Oh, okay. Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Sure."

"Who is that boy you are always with?"

"Boy? Oh! Ryan. Yeah, he's Ryan. My boyfriend. Do you know what a boyfriend is?"

"Of course!" the child replied demeaningly.

"Don't you dare take that tone with me! I invented that tone!"

"Nu-uh! It was me. Cause I am before you so I made it! Even if it is impolite and rude and bad."

"Damn, you got me there," Sarai regretfully conceded. "So yeah, anyway, he's my boyfriend."

"Okay. Just wanted to know. Cause he's really nice."

"Yes, he is."

"He told me bubbles aren't bad."

"When did this happen?"

"The other night when you weren't here. I didn't know that bubbles were good when they were offered to me. But then the Ryan-person came here, and he explained it."

Sarai was confused. "He came here when you were in the bathtub?"

"Nope. He came in the door as I tried to escape from the bubbles."

"Oh. Okay. So you were all escaping, and dressed." Little Sarai shook her head. "You weren't dressed!"

"No. I didn't have clothes on. I think that bothered him."

Sarai was not pleased. "He saw me naked! He saw me naked as a child, and I didn't even know til now! That's not how it goes! He's not supposed to see me naked til at least prom! Hopefully," she complained. "Wait, I never said that last part about prom. Forget it," she added, once she realized what she had let out.

"What's a prom?"

"Oh, it's this like, party I get to go to at the end of this school year. Ryan is going with me. And I am going to have the coolest dress I can find... I just haven't found it yet."

"And you have to be naked at one point?"

"No. You don't have to be. But... actually, that's private. Let's just leave that whole area alone."

"So that's not something I can ask dad about later?"

"NO!" Sarai yelled. "Absolutely not. Hell no. Not at all. Never in a trillion years," she elaborated. "Besides, I haven't even made the official decision yet."

There was a knock on the front door. It was Fred and Sophia. "I got an update on what was going on, and I didn't want you to have to be here sick, by yourself," Fred said as she walked in the penthouse.

"Aw, thanks," Sarai replied. "Even though the mini's here. Oh! I don't think she and Sophia have met." She turned to Little Sarai. "Mini, this is my bestest-friend under the age of seventeen, Sophia. Sophia, sweety, this is... well... Sarai, like me. She's very much like me, so you two should like each other." Both children shyly looked at Sarai. "You can wave to each other, if you want," she advised, out of lack of a better idea. They did as she suggested. "Alrighty, it's been fun people, but I am off to bed. See ya'll later. Wini-the-Fred, I appreciate you staying here and watching the other small person for me while I rest." Just as Sarai reached her bedroom door and was about to go in, she heard her vampire self fighting in the hall with her father. "You've got to be joking. What does a girl have to do to get some rest around here?" she questioned to no one specifically. Within seconds Angel, Darla, Dawn, Faith, Lindsey, Gunn and Wesley, came in restraining Vampire Sarai, who was yelling a boatload of obscenities at them all. Sophia looked at the mean vampire who looked just like her friend/babysitter/surrogate big sister, and was very confused, and slightly afraid. "Why don't you play with Skittles in my room?" Sarai told the child before anyone else could tell her to leave. She did as she was told.

"Who the hell do you people think you are!" Vampire Sarai demanded as she tried to break free. Her focus was mainly on Angel.

"Even as I vampire you blame me for everything," he griped in return.

"What's your point?" both vampire and teenage Sarai questioned.

"Get. The. Fuck. Off. Me!" the vampire then demanded, saying each word sharply.

"Language!" Angel and Darla both said on instinct.

"Lame-o's," Sarai defended, "like neither of you have ever said it? I don't think so." She then focused on the vampire. "And how dare you speak to him like that!"

Faith decided to intervene. "Look, girl, you don't want to be here anymore then we want you here. But for the mean time you're just going to have to cooperate until we can send you back."

"Well, send me back soon!" the vampire screamed.

"Shh!" Sarai hissed. "You'll upset Sophia if you keep it up."

"Should I give a shit about this person you're talking about?"

"You should unless you want me to kill you." Sarai thought for a minute. "Did I just threaten to kill myself? I mean, she's evil, so it's okay right? It doesn't mean that I'm subconsciously suicidally psycho, right?"

"Don't worry," Gunn assured her, "that's not the kind of psycho you are, and in you'd have to have a conscience in order to have a subconscience" he said, exercising his right as best friend number one, to make fun of her.

"Well, good," Sarai replied before sticking her tongue out at him.

Vampire Sarai was annoyed heavily still. "So what do you expect me to do around here while you retards 'figure things out'?"

An idea entered Sarai's head. "Well, if you insisted on doing damage, there's this girl named Brianna, who knows me, and so..."

"Sarai," Angel cut off.

"What? I was only gonna have some scarily confusing fun."

"But why waste your time with that, one someone who's not nearly as pretty or cool as you?" Ryan questioned as he, Cordy and Willow made themselves known, from the doorway.

"That's so sweet," Sarai blushed slightly. Angel rolled his eyes bitterly.

"Oh you must be a version of my father," Vampire Sarai stated in response to the angry eye-rolling reaction to the display that just went on.

"And she's fifteen, Angel, what do you expect? Let her go a bit," Darla advised, lightly hitting Angel on the shoulder. Lindsey snickered.

"You can't tell me what to do," Angel replied, sounding slightly childish.

"That's it. I'm moving to Alaska," Sarai sarcastically announced.

"I'll help you pack," Angel played along.

"Help? You'd do it. You know I despise packing. It involves folding and all that other stuff that I don't believe in."

"You mean movement that doesn't involve changing TV channels?"

"That about sums it up."

Before the bickering could go on, Wesley's cellphone rang. He answered it and had a short conversation before hanging up. "Well, my research team has discovered something," he told the group.

"What Britney see's in Kevin Federline? Cause I just don't get it. Not just cause he's a deadbeat, but cause he always looks like he needs a shower," Sarai replied. "The dirty look is soooo unappealing."

"I was talking about something important," Wesley replied, "what's going on around here. And getting rid of as many of you as possible," he decided to take a verbal shot at the girl who loves to torture him any way she can, out of frustration.

"Figures. After all, sending me away, it's what you do best," Sarai replied immediately.

"What do you mean?" Little Sarai asked.

"You're better off not knowing," Sarai told her. "So, just what is it that your crack team discovered?"

"My team tested the room where young... you... was found. And looked into spells and portals that leave the kind of residue that was found there, and assume that the same can be said for where vampire..."

"Wes, the point?" Sarai interrupted.

"It doesn't really matter how we send them back. By Darla being back it accidently caused this effect of bringing the other two here, but nothing is, was, or can be altered in history or dimensions. They're merely copies. So a basic teleportation spell should do the trick. If in fact they get sent back."

"Oh I better get sent back!" Vampire Sarai insisted.

Little Sarai thought about his last words. "Wait, does that mean I can stay?" she questioned. "Please? I'll be really, really good."

Angel and Darla looked at one another in silence.

TBC.

* * *

A/N: Up next will be the last chapter of the story, in which the decision about the fates of the Sarai's will be made, as well as (somewhat) of an understanding between Angel and Darla,and Sarai gives Darla and Lindsey a present only she'd think of giving them. In the meantime, _please review_. 


	12. Multiplicity

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, and all the others. I appreciate them. And now here is the conclusion of the story.

* * *

As Angel and Darla stared at one another, Sarai rolled her eyes. "Does everything have to be so tense over dramatic all the time? This isn't Dawson's Creek, people. Can't you just answer the question and move on?" she questioned. Angel quietly went into his bedroom, Darla followed. "Why do I even bother anymore?" the teenager sighed.

"We can't send her back," Angel told Darla.

"Oh we can't, huh?" she replied, annoyed.

Angel was slightly shocked. "You mean you want too?"

"I mean I don't want you deciding on your own! She's mine too you know, I have a say," Darla scolded. "For the past weekend we can barely agree on how to raise one Sarai, is adding another really the best idea?"

"It's better than sending her back there," he argued.

"Unless she ends up thinking the reason you and I can't seem to agree on anything is her fault and ends up blaming herself. As of now, we know that Sarai ends up okay. Do you really want to risk screwing one up?"

"Since when are you afraid of taking a risk?" Angel questioned.

Darla looked sad, "since a few hours ago when she was nearly panicking thinking she'd done something wrong. I just... I don't want to cause that."

"We can't send her back," Angel repeated.

"I know," Darla finally confessed. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Find some way to be civil to each other?"

"Think we can handle it?"

"We did for a hundred years."

"We did a lot of other things during those years too. Most of which I don't think either girl should ever try and do," Darla slightly laughed. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if Sarai's thinking about trying some of them with Ryan."

Angel scowled. "Don't ever go there again."

"Oh come on, it's sweet. Don't you remember what it was like to have your first love?"

"It got me sent to hell," he countered.

"Yes, but you're the male. That girl was the one who sent you there," she pointed out, with disgust at the fact he was talking about Buffy. Angel had a mental image of Sarai sending Ryan to hell, and slightly smirked. And Darla knew it. "Oh yeah, the soul has made you completely good."

"Well, he would deserve it," Angel weakly defended. "And that's not our biggest problem right now. What are you and I going to do?"

Darla shook her head. "I already asked that. God you're impossible."

"Am not. I just... wanted to know if you had any ideas."

"If I did then I would've told you!" she snapped back. "This isn't going to work, is it?"

"Not sure, honestly."

"Well, let's start with the basics for now. When will I get to see her... I mean them?"

Angel shrugged. "I don't know. When you want to?" Suddenly, an idea entered his head. "Okay, this may be a bad idea in the long run, but it's an idea. There's another penthouse in the building. At the end of this hallway, actually. And I don't have anyone using it."

"Are you suggesting we live that close to each other?"

"It would be convenient for Sarai, both of them."

"That it would be," she agreed. "But it would also be inconvenient for you and I, being so close."

"That it would be," this time Angel said. "So, should I have it made up to be lived in?" he then questioned.

"Yeah. We'll just, stay away from each other's personal lives."

"Right. Of course. We can do that. We can."

"Yes, we can."

"I won't interfere at all if you decide to have a relationship with that jackass." Darla scowled at Angel. "I mean Lindsey," he corrected. "This is going to take some time."

"Obviously."

They exited the bedroom and rejoined everyone else. "Little Sarai, if you can stay here if that's really what you want," Angel told her. The child was extremely happy.

"Don't I get a say?" Sarai questioned.

"No," both parents told her.

"Just checking."

"I'm not staying," Vampire Sarai decided to remind everyone.

"We know, and honestly? Don't give a crap," Sarai replied. "I'm not sharing my room! It's taken me a long time to get it the way it is."

"Yes, we know. A mess that big doesn't develop over night," Angel agreed.

"There's nothing wrong with my mess once and for all. It's my mess. I know where everything in the mess is. It's an organized mess, if you will."

"Right. Sure it is," Angel replied.

"So, should I attempt a teleportation spell to send Vampire Sarai back?" Willow interrupted to ask.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea, thanks," Angel told her.

"If you want I can he-..." Sarai was going to offer to help with the spell.

"No," the adults and Ryan interrupted.

"Do you people not trust me or something?" No one answered her. "Meanies."

"I'll get the spell started," Willow stated.

Little Sarai approached her parents. "Thank you for letting me stay," she told them.

"Not a problem," Darla replied.

"Yeah, we're happy to have you," Angel added.

"Um, yeah, I'd like to take this time to point out something you people clearly haven't thought of," Sarai said. "What are we gonna call her? Cause calling her Sarai will be confusing and I have issue's with calling her 'little Sarai', it sounds like 'Junior Patrick' on Coupling, which is just nasty. Funny on the show, nasty in this real life situation, just so I am clear on that." There was a pause. "We could call her Mini. That'd be okay."

"No," Angel and Darla said at once.

"We could call her by your middle name," Angel suggested.

"You gave her a middle name?" Darla asked.

"Yeah, you gave me a middle name? I've been meaning to ask you if you did for a while, but forgot," Sarai said. "What is it?"

"Blair," Angel answered.

"Blair?" Darla repeated. "Figures you'd go with an Irish name," she muttered.

"Well it's not like you were around for me to ask your permission."

"Well, excuse me for being dead!"

"Sarai Blair?" Sarai said, cutting off her parent's argument. "Huh. Interesting I guess. And it sounds like Selma Blair, which isn't exactly a bad thing. I mean I've watched all five hundred airings of Legally Blonde on TNT and TBS."

"I am confused, am I not gonna be Sarai anymore?" Little Sarai asked.

"Well, technically, you'll still be the same, but with a different name. This was no one gets confused between you and other Sarai," Angel explained. "Is that okay?"

The child shrugged. "Sureness," she agreed.

Sarai wiped a fake tear from her eye, "she's adding 'ness' to the ends of words already. I really make myself proud."

"We've noticed," Gunn commented.

"Okay, well, this has been a blast, but I have something to do. See you peoples in a few minutes. Try not to miss me," Sarai said before going off to her room.

"What is it that she's doing?" little Sarai asked.

"It's better not to ask questions. Trust me," Angel answered.

"Okay."

"So, should I get the penthouse ready?" Angel asked Darla. "It'll take at least a day, it's completely empty right now."

"Penthouse?" Lindsey questioned, confused.

"There's another one on this floor, that I am taking," Darla explained. "Would you like..."

"Where will I live if other me doesn't want me in her room?" Little Sarai asked, cutting off Darla's question for Lindsey.

Angel looked over at Willow, who was setting up the spell, "Willow, is there some way, if you're able, to make another room in both places?" he asked awkwardly.

"Or you could sleep on the couch here and give her your room," Sarai popped her head out of her bedroom door to say to Angel. He was going to reply, but she disappeared back into the room completely.

"I can try," Willow answered. "I think I can."

Lindsey cleared his throat. "So, there was something else you wanted to say to me," he reminded Darla.

"All done!" Willow announced, pointing to the set up teleportation spell, before Darla could answer.

Vampire Sarai was extremely happy. "I can finally go home!" she exclaimed.

"Just stand in this spot," Willow instructed, pointing to the center of a candle-lit square.

"See ya evil me," Sarai once again briefly appeared from her doorway to say.

Angel waved to the vampire. "Have a safe trip," he told her, in a very fatherly way, which caused the evil girl to roll her eyes.

The vampire stepped in the center of the candles, and Willow recited an incantation. Within seconds, the vampire was gone and the flames on the candles were out. "One spell down, one to go," the witch commented. "I'm going to have to look up a way for the next one, though. Where are all the magic books kept in this building, again?"

"I'll show you," Faith offered. The two women left.

Suddenly, Fred began to look around the room nervously. "Where's Sophia?" she panicked.

"Still in Sarai's bedroom, remember?" Wesley reminded her.

She sighed in relief. "Right. Sorry. There was just a teleportation spell done, and I didn't see her around here, it slipped my mind and I panicked."

"Well no one was about to accuse you of being calm," Sarai countered, exiting her bedroom, with Sophia behind her. "You," the teenager pointed to Lindsey, "my bedroom, now." Puzzled, he followed her into the bedroom. "Merry January," she told him as she shut the door. She followed that by handing him a piece of paper.

Lindsey looked at the paper. "Directions?" he questioned.

Sarai nodded. "Yup. Very good, they're directions. And they're to the W Hotel."

"Why are you giving me directions on how to get there?"

"Because, like I said, Merry January. I just booked a room there. It's a gift from me to you and my mom, but I can't give it to my mom cause that would be icky. Just walk in and give them your name. And also, never, ever, ever, ever, let me actually find out what you two do there. Cause in my mind? You're gonna be ordering room service and watching TV."

Lindsey was shocked, to say the least. "You've... your... I can't accept this," he stammered. "It doesn't seem right."

Sarai glared at him. "It's perfectly alright to give you a place to...watch TV and order room service, instead of you people using my favorite couch again... and I already booked the room and I refuse to let my money go to waste. So you will use it," she insisted. "Come on, you know you're dying to... watch TV and order room service with my mother. You must. You're a guy, it's like embedded into you when you turn thirteen or something," she added. Although he did want to accept the room, he still felt a bit wrong doing so, and Sarai could tell. "Either go there now, or I'll put it to use myself by taking Ryan there. Do you want that on your conscious? Hm? Do you, do you?"

"Well, when you put it that way. If I'll be preventing you from doing something you really shouldn't by, watching TV and ordering room service," he said, using her 'code', "then I guess I really have to."

"That's what I thought. What are you waiting for? Go on, go. No need to stand here talking to me more." Sarai put her hands on Lindsey's shoulders, turned him around and pushed him toward the door.

They both left the room, and saw that in the few moments they were talking, people had left. Wesley, Fred, Sophia, Gunn and Ryan, to be exact. Sarai looked to Angel for an explanation. "Gunn and Ryan went to get something... not really sure where or what, and the other's went home," he told her, as Lindsey took Darla aside to a corner.

"What's going on? Why did Sarai take you into her room?" Darla questioned.

Lindsey prevented himself from grinning. "She wanted to give me something. See..."

"Your hand," Darla interrupted, finally taking notice of the fact that Lindsey had two real, human hands, and not one prosthetic one. "It's...back?"

He didn't want to seem annoyed. He wasn't, not really. But there was a room waiting for them, and he wanted to put it to use. Fast. "Yeah, I had an operation," he explained quickly, "I'll tell you the story later. Right now..."

"Did it hurt?" she inquired.

"The operation? No, not really. Not nearly like when it was actually cut off. Then again, I don't think anything's more painful than that."

Darla slightly rolled her eyes. "No offence, but until you've had a small person ripping through your insides trying to make an exit, you really can't talk about what the _most_ painful thing in the world is," she corrected.

"How creepy would it be if that happened to him and one day he could talk about it then?" Sarai interjected, joining the two. "Although I'm sure he'd get mega-rich off it. But anyway, why are you two still here? Lindsey, what did I tell you about not letting my money go to waste? When a person gives you a non-refundable gift, it's only right to use it."

"I'm trying," he argued. "I just haven't had the chance to tell her."

"How hard is it? Mommy, go with Lindsey. Now."

"Go where?" Darla asked.

"The W Hotel, there's a room there for us to...catch up in," Lindsey explained.

"No!" the teenager exclaimed. "Catch up? Why'd you have to put it that way! It's the universal obvious code, the type that makes me think about what will actually go on and then further add to the already long list of psychological traumas. It was order room service and watch TV, remember?" she scolded.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"You should be. Now go."

Darla grabbed Lindsey's hand, "well, if you insist, talk to you later," she said. As they left she waved goodbye to little Sarai. And Lindsey gave a wave of sheer gratefulness to Sarai.

"What's going on?" the child asked her teenage self.

"The mom and Lindsey leaving thing? They went out, but they'll be back later, or maybetomorrow."

"Where'd they go?" Angel questioned. Sarai gave him a look that clearly begged for her to not have to verbalize it, even by code. "Oh."

Sarai looked over toward the doorway. She was amused. "So, how much do you want to put a foot up his ass, on a scale of one to ten?" she asked Cordelia, who had been standing there silently since Ryan and Willow walked in earlier, after vampire Sarai was found, waiting for Angel to say something to her, which hadn't happened yet.

"Twenty," Cordelia replied. Angel tensed up and mentally tried to prepare himself for what was about to come. It wasn't going to be pretty by any means.

"Interesting, and but keep it down because I'ma go attempt to _finally_ rest off this fever, from the operation o' doom," the teenager told her before going to her room.

"Cordelia, look, I'm..." Angel began to say.

"You're what?" she interrupted. "You're finally willing to fit time into your schedule for me? I know this is has been a busier then usual weekend for you, but two minutes, you couldn't even fit in two minutes to clue me in at all! This is the first time you've said anything to me since I came back here with Willow!"

"You go girl," Sarai yelled from her room. She figured now that she had her mother around for good, she could ease up on Cordelia. A lot.

"I'm sorry," Angel apologized.

"You should be," Cordy agreed. "You should be very, very sorry. It's like you completely forgot I exist!"

"That's not true. I knew you were around."

"Around? Around? Is that what I am to you? Around? Some kind of convenience? Because let me tell you something, buddy, Cordelia Chase is no one's convenience!"

"Of course you're not. I didn't mean it that way. I... I... didn't mean to make you feel left out, either. I'm sorry. Very, sorry."

"You should be," she repeated. "However, I am sure there's someway you can really make it to me," she added, forgetting that there was still a child in the room.

"Really?" Angel questioned, happily, also momentarily forgetting.

"How? He already said he was sorry," said child questioned, making both adults mentally slap themselves, "is there another way it is also done in this world?"

"Um...well..." Angel stammered.

"Does it have anything to do with that 'horny' word mentioned before and the tongue thing? What are they?"

"Well, I will be going now, call you later, Angel," a giggling Cordelia said.

"Wait, no! Help me!" he begged.

"Nope, sorry," she replied, taking joy in his obvious discomfort.

"Well, what does it mean?"

"Okay, um well, it's a grown up, see, when too people," he continued to stammer, completely at a loss for what to say.

Meanwhile, Sarai laid in her bed, listening to the conversation going on outside her room, and was highly amused by it. She continued to listen until she fell asleep. Of course, that didn't last long. She was woken twenty minutes later by the sound of two people entering her bedroom. "What!" she grumbled to her visitors.

"Do you want us to come back?" Gunn asked.

"No, I'm already awake," she replied, looking at her best friend, and then at her boyfriend, "why do you guys have plastic bags?"

"We got you some things, like a little 'Get Well Soon' gift basket...but without the actual basket, as you can see," Ryan explained as he and Gunn handed her the bags.

Sarai took a look at the items and examined each one carefully. Her boys knew her well. "Cheese cake, strawberry ice cream, hot dogs, tuna, peach snapple, cherry coke, chocolate covered cherries, and Hershey's Cookies n' Mint bars" she said the name of each thing as she took it out of the bag, "you got me all eight major food groups!" Then it was on to the bag. "A picture frame?" she questioned, confused staring at the plastic frame with butterflies on it, attached to a blue base.

"Read the box," Gunn pointed out, "it lights up, and the light changes color."

"Fascinating," she replied as she ripped it open, installed the batteries and turned it on. "Extremely fascinating."

"We thought you'd see it that way."

There was one more thing in the bag. She looked to see what it was, and then leapt out of bed and hugged both males tightly. "My heros! I fricken love you two!" she exclaimed, delighted by the fact that she was once again the owner of an oral thermometer.

Although things didn't go as she originally planned, all seemed right in the world of Sarai. After all, nothing in her life ever went as originally planed, causing her to improvise and at least make everything to her satisfaction. And they were. Her mother was back for good and happy, she could use her sickness and the operation as a guilt trip and to annoy everyone for at least a week, the proper thermometer was back in her home, and of course, the best part of all in her mind, if the conversation in the living room was any indication, Angel would be driven doubly crazy from there on out.

Finished.

* * *

A/N: That wraps up the latest Sarai adventure. She'll be taking some downtime for a while, while I work on what will be her biggest and (probably) last story. But until that comes, she's going to be playing supporting character/sidekick to Sophia, who's getting her own story about her and her parents, which will have it's first chapter posted... very, very, soon.

Hope you all liked reading this!

_Please review._


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